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Life  of 


Thomas  a  Becket. 


BY 

HENRY  HART  MILMAN,  d.  d. 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 

NEW  YORK: 
SHELDON    &  COMPANY 
i860. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/lifeoftliomasbeckOOmilm 


EDITOR'S  PREFACE. 


Peehaps  the  chapter  of  English  history- 
fullest  of  romantic  interest,  is  that  contain- 
ing the  life  of  Thomas  a  Becket.  In  fact, 
the  great  struggle  between  Becket  and 
Henry  II., — between  individual  genius  and 
sovereign  power,  between  a  subject  and 
his  king,  between  religion  and  the  sword, 
between  the  Church  and  the  State,  is 
scarcely  equaled  in  the  annals  of  the 
world.  And  nowhere  do  we  find  a  paral- 
lel to  the  strange  story  of  Becket's  life, 
beginning  in  Oriental  legend,  ending  in 
heroic  tragedy.  By  an  accident  of  posi- 
tion, he  questioned  with  the  terrible  power 
of  genius  the  divine  right  of  kings,  and 
the  grateful  people  of  England,  a  hundred 
thousand  at  a  time,  flocked  as  pilgrims  to 
his  tomb. 


iv       Editor^  s  Preface. 


The  biography  here  presented  has  been 
taken  from  Dean  Milman's  great  history 
of  Latin  Christianity.  The  style  is  at 
once  dignified,  terse,  and  eloquent.  The 
learning  of  Milman  is  abiuidant  and  accu- 
rate, his  judgment  singularly  sound  and 
free  from  prejudice.  One  of  the  gems  of 
his  history  is  this  life  of  Becket.  A  bio- 
graphy of  the  biographer  is  part  of  our 
plan,  and  we  gladly  transfer  to  our  pages, 
from  the  English  Cyclopedia,  a  sketch  of 
Milman's  life. 

The  Rev.  Hekry  Hakt  Miljiax,  D.  D., 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  was  bom 
February  10th,  1791,  in  London.  He  is 
the  youngest  son  of  Sir  Francis  Milman, 
first  baronet,  who  was  physician  to  George 
III.,  and  is  brother  to  Sir  William  George 
Milman.  He  was  educated  at  Dr.  Bur- 
ney's  academy  at  Greemvich,  at  Eton 
College,  and  at  Brazenose  College,  Oxford, 
where  he  took  his  degrees  of  B.  A.  and 
M.  A.,  and  of  which  he  was  elected  a  Fel- 


Editor''  8  Preface.  v 

low.  In  1812  lie  received  the  Newdegate 
prize  for  his  English  poem  on  the  Apollo 
Belvidere.  In  1815  he  published  "Fazio, 
a  Tragedy,"  which  was  performed  with 
success  at  Covent  Garden  Theatre,  at  a 
period  when  theatrical  managers  seized 
upon  a  pubHshed  play,  and  produced  it 
without  an  author's  consent.  Mr.  Milman 
could  not  even  enforce  the  ])roper  pronun- 
ciation of  the  name  of  "  Fazio."  He  took 
holy  orders  in  1817,  and  was  appointed 
vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Reading.  In  the  early 
part  of  1818  he  published  "Samor,  Lord 
of  the  Bright  City,  an  Heroic  Poem,"  of 
which  a  second  edition  was  called  for  in 
the  course  of  the  same  year.  The  hero 
of  this  poem  is  a  personage  of  the  legen- 
dary history  of  Britain  in  the  early  part 
of  the  Saxon  invasions  of  England.  The 
fullest  account  of  his  exploits  is  given  in 
Dugdale's  "  Baronage,"  under  his  title  of 
Earl  of  Gloucester.  Harrison,  in  the  "  De- 
scription of  Britain,"  prefixed  to  Holins- 

hed's  "  Chronicle,"  calls  him  Eldulph  de 

1* 


vi        Editor^  8  Preface. 

Samor.  The  Bright  City  is  Gloucester, 
(Caer  Gloew  in  British.)  In  1820  Mr 
Milman  published  "  The  Fall  of  Jerusalem," 
a  dramatic  poem  founded  on  Josephus's 
narrative  of  the  siege  of  the  sacred  city. 
This,  in  some  respects  his  most  beautiful 
poem,  established  his  reputation.  In  1821, 
he  was  elected  Professor  of  Poetry  in  the 
University  of  Oxford,  and  published  three 
other  dramatic  poems,  "  The  Martyr  of 
Antioch,"  "  Balshazzar,"  and  "  Anne.  Bo- 
leyn."  In  1827  he  published  sermons  at 
the  "  Bampton  Lecture,"  8vo.,  and  in 
1829,  without  his  name,  "The  History 
of  the  Jews,"  3  vols.  18mo.  A  collected 
edition  of  his  "  Poetical  Works,"  was  pub- 
lished in  1840,  which,  besides  the  works 
above  mentioned,  and  his  smaller  poems, 
contains  the  "Nala  and  Damayanti," 
translated  from  the  Sanskrit.  In  the 
same  year  he  published  his  "  History  of 
Christianity  from  the  Birth  of  Christ,  to 
the  Abolition  of  Paganism  in  the  Roman 
Empire,"  3  vols.  8vo.,  in  which  he  pro- 


Editor^  s  P  T  ef  ace  .  vii 


fesses  to  view  Christianity  as  a  historian, 
in  its  moral,  social,  and  political  influences, 
referring  to  its  doctrines  no  further  than 
is  necessary  for  explaining  the  general 
effect  of  the  system.  It  is  the  work  of  an 
accomplished  and  liberal-minded  scholar. 
At  the  commencement  of  1849  appeared 
"  The  Works  of  Quintus  Horatius  Flac- 
cus,  illustrated  chiefly  from  the  Remains 
of  Ancient  Art,  with  a  Life  by  the  Rev. 
H.  H.  Milman,"  8vo.,  a  beautiful  and  luxu- 
rious edition.  Mr.  MUman's  Life  of  Ho- 
race, and  critical  remarks  on  the  merits 
of  the  Roman  poet,  are  written  with  much 
elegance  of  style,  and  are  very  interesting. 

In  November  1 849,  Mr.  Milman,  who  had 
for  some  years  been  Rector  of  St.  Margar- 
et's, Westminster,  and  a  Canon  of  West- 
minster, was  made  Dean  of  St.  Paul's. 
Dean  Milman's  latest  publication  is  a  "His- 
tory of  Latin  Christianity,  including  that 
of  the  Popes  to  the  Pontificate  of  Nicholas 
v.,"  3  vols.  8vo.  1854.  This  work  is  a 
continuation  of  the  author's  "  History  of 


yiii      Editor''  s  Preface. 

Christianity,"  and  yet  is  in  itself  a  complete 
work.  To  give  it  that  completeness  he  has 
gone  over  the  history  of  Christianity  in 
Rome  during  the  first  four  centuries.  The 
author  states  that  he  is  occupied  mth  the 
continuation  of  the  history  down  to  the 
close  of  the  pontificate  of  Nicholas  V., 
that  is,  to  1455.1  Besides  the  works  before 
mentioned,  Dean  Milman  is  understood  to 
have  contributed  numerous  articles  to  the 
"  Quarterly  Review  and  his  edition  of 
Gibbon's  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire,"  presented  the  great  historian 
with  more  ample  illustrations  than  he  had 
before  received.  This  edition  has  been  re- 
published, with  additional  notes  and  veri- 
fications, by  Dr.  W.  Smith. 

Dean  Milman  is  destined  to  become  a 
household  word  in  historical  literature, 
and  we  are  glad  to  present  the  many  with 
this  favorable  specimen  of  his  work. 

May,  1859.  Q.  W.  WiGHT. 

1  The  "  History  of  Latin  Christianity,"  is  now  com- 
pleted in  six  volumes. — Ed. 


LIFE  OF  THOMAS  A  BECKET. 


Popular  poetry,  after  tlie  sanctifica- 
tion  of  Becket,  delighted  in  throwing 
the  rich  colors  of  marvel  over  his  birth 
Legend,  and  parentage.  It  invented,  or 
rather  interwove  with  the  pedigree  of 
the  martyr,  one  of  those  romantic  tra- 
ditions which  grew  out  of  the  wild  ad- 
ventures of  the  crusades,  and  which  oc- 
cur in  various  forms  in  the  ballads  of 
all  nations.  That  so  great  a  saint  should 
be  the  son  of  a  gallant  champion  of  the 
cross,  and  of  a  Saracen  princess,  was  a 
fiction  too  attractive  not  to  win  general 
acceptance.  The  father  of  Becket,  so 
runs  the  legend,  a  gallant  soldier,  was 
a  captive  in  the  Holy  Land,  and  in- 


10        Thomas  a  Bechet. 

spired  tiie  daughter  of  his  master  with 
an  ardent  attachment.  Through  her 
means  he  made  his  escape ;  but  the  en- 
amored princess  could  not  endure  life 
without  him.  She  too  fled  and  made 
her  way  to  Europe.  She  had  learned 
but  two  words  of  the  Christian  lan- 
guage, London  and  Gilbert.  "With 
these  two  magic  sounds  upon  her  lips 
she  reached  London ;  and  as  she  wan- 
dered through  the  streets,  constantly 
repeating  the  name  of  Gilbert,  she  was 
met  bv  Becket's  faithful  servant.  Beck- 
et,  as  a  good  Christian,  seems  to  have 
entertained  religious  scruples  as  to  the 
propriety  of  wedding  the  faithful,  but 
misbelieving,  or,  it  might  be,  not  sin- 
cerely believing  maiden.  The  case  was 
submitted  to  the  highest  authority,  and 
argued  before  the  Bishop  of  London. 
The  issue  was  the  baptism  of  the  prin- 
cess, by  the  name  of  Matilda  (that  of 
the  empress  queen,)  and  their  marriage 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


11 


in  St.  Paul's,  with  the  utmost  publicity 
and  splendor. 

But  of  this  wondrous  tale,  not  one 
word  had  reached  the  ears  of  any  of  the 
seven  or  eight  contemporary  biogra- 
phers of  Becket,  most  of  them  his  most 
intimate  friends  or  his  most  faithful  at- 
tendants.^   It  was  neither  known  to 

1  There  are  no  less  than  seven  full  contempo- 
rary, or  nearly  contemporary,  Lives  of  Becket, 
besides  fragments,  legends,  and  "Passions." 
Dr.  Giles  has  reprinted,  and  in  some  respects 
enlarged,  those  works  from  the  authority  of  MSS. 
I  give  them  in  the  order  of  his  volumes.  I. 
Vita  Sancti  Thomae.  Auctore  Edward  Grim. 
11.  Auctore  Roger  de  Pontiniaco.  III.  Auctore 
"Willelmo  Filio  Stephani.  IV.  Auctoribus  Jo- 
anne Decano  Salisburiensi,  et  Alano  Abbate 
Teuksburiensi.  V.  Auctore  Willelmo  Canter- 
buriensi.  VI.  Auctore  Anonymo  Lambethi- 
ensi.  VII.  Auctore  Herberto  de  Bosham.  Of 
these,  Grim,  Fitz-Stephen,  and  Herbert  de  Bos- 
ham were  throughout  his  life  in  more  or  less 
close  attendance  on  Becket.  The  learned  John 
of  Salisbury  was  his  bosom  friend  and  counsel- 


12 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


Joliii  of  Salisbury,  his  confidential  ad- 
viser and  correspondent,  nor  to  Fitz- 
Stephen,  an  officer  of  his  conrt  in  chan- 
cery, and  dean  of  his  chapel  when  arch- 
bishop, who  was  with  him  at  IsTorth- 
ampton,  and  at  his  death ;  nor  to  Her- 
bert de  Bosham,  likewise  one  of  his  offi- 
cers when  chancellor,  and  his  faithful 
attendant  throughout  his  exile ;  nor  to 

lor.  Roger  of  Pontigny  was  his  intimate  asso- 
ciate and  friend  in  that  monastery.  Wilham 
was  prohably  prior  of  Canterbury  at  the  time 
of  Becket's  death.  The  sixth  professes  also  to 
have  been  witness  to  the  death  of  Becket.  (He 
is  called  Lambethiensis  by  Dr.  Giles,  merely 
because  the  MS.  is  in  the  Lambeth  Library.) 
Add  to  these  the  curious  French  poem,  written 
five  years  after  the  murder  of  Becket,  by  Gamier 
of  Pont  S.  Maxence,  partly  published  in  the 
Berlin  Transactions,  by  the  learned  Immanuel 
Bekker.  All  these,  it  must  be  remembered, 
write  of  the  man ;  the  later  monkish  writers 
(though  near  the  time,  Hoveden,  Gervase,  Di- 
ceto,  Bronipton)  of  the  Saint. 


Thomas  d  jBecJcet. 


13 


the  monk  of  Pontignj,  who  waited  upon 
him  and  enjoyed  his  most  intimate  con- 
fidence during  his  retreat  in  that  con- 
vent ;  nor  to  Edward  Grim,  his  standard- 
bearer,  who  on  his  way  from  Clarendon, 
reproached  him  with  his  weakness,  and 
having  been  constantly  attached  to  his 
person,  finally  interposed  his  arm  be- 
tween his  rr  aster  and  the  first  blow  of 
the  assassin.  Xor  were  these  ardent 
admirers  of  Becket  silent  from  any  se- 
vere aversion  to  the  marvelous;  they 
relate,  with  unsuspecting  faith,  dreams 
and  prognostics  which  revealed  to  the 
mother  the  future  greatness  of  her  son, 
even  his  elevation  to  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury 

2  Brompton  is  not  tlie  earliest  writer  who  re- 
corded this  tale ;  he  took  it  from  the  Quadrilo- 
gus  I.,  but  of  this  the  date  is  quite  uncertain. 
The  exact  date  of  Brompton  is  unknown.  See 
preface  in  Twysden.  He  goes  down  to  the  end 
of  Richard  II. 


14:        T  ho  7/1  as  d  Becket. 

To  the  Saxon  descent  of  Beeket,  a 
theory  in  which,  on  the  aiithonty  of  an 
eloquent  French  writer,^  modern  his- 
tory has  seemed  disposed  to  acquiesce, 
these  biographers  not  merely  giye  no 
support,  but  furnish  direct  contradic- 
tion. The  lower  people  no  doubt  ad- 
mired during  his  life,  and  worshiped 
after  death,  the  blessed  Thomas  of  Can- 
terbury, and  the  i^eople  were  mostly 
Saxon.  But  it  was  not  as  a  Saxon,  but 
as  a  Saint,  that  Becket  was  the  object 
of  unbounded  popularity  during  his 
life,  of  idolatry  after  his  death. 

Tlie  father  of  Becket,  according  to 
Parentage  the  distiuct  words  of  one  con- 

and  edu-  ,  .  , 

catioa.  temporary  biographer,  was  a 
natiye  of  Eouen,  his  mother  of  Caen."* 

3  Mons.  Thierry,  Ilist.  des  Xormands.  Lord 
Lyttelton  (Life  of  Henrv  IL)  had  before  asserted 
the  Saxon  descent  of  Becket :  perhaps  he  misled 
H.  Thierry. 

4  The  anonymous  Lambethiensis,  after  stating 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


15 


Gilbert  was  no  kniglit-errant,  but  a 
sober  mercliant,  tempted  by  commercial 
advantages  to  settle  in  London :  bis 
mother  neither  boasted  of  royal  Sara- 
cenic blood,  nor  bore  the  royal  name 
of  Matilda :  she  was  the  daughter  of  an 
honest  burgher  of  Caen.  His  ^s"orman 
descent  is  still  further  confirmed  by  his 
claim  of  relationship,  or  connexion  at 
least,  as  of  common  [N'orman  descent, 
with  Archbishop  Tlieobald.^  The  pa- 
rents of  Becket,  he  asserts  himself,  were 
merchants  of  unimpeached  character, 
not  of  the  lowest  class.  Gilbert  Becket 
is  said  to  have  served  the  honorable 

that  many  Norman  merchants  were  allured  to 
London  bj  the  greater  mercantile  prosperity, 
proceeds:  "Ex  horum  numero  fuit  Gilbertus 
qiiidam  cognomento  Becket,  patria  Eotomagen- 
sis  .  .  .  .  habuit  aiitem  iixorem,  nomine  Roseam 
natione  Cadomensem,  genere  burgensiura  quo- 
que  non  disparem/' — Apiid  Giles,  ii.  p.  73. 
5  See  below. 


16 


T tiomas  a  B ecket . 


Born  A.  D.  office  of  sliei'iff,  but  bis  fortune 
was  injiu'ed  by  fires  and  otber 
casualties.^  Tbe  young  Becket  received 
bis  earliest  education  among  tbe  monks 
of  Merton  in  Surrey,  towards  wbom  be 
cberisbed  a  fond  attacbment,  and  de- 
ligbted  to  visit  tbem  in  tbe  days  of  bis 
splendor.  Tbe  dwelling  of  a  respect- 
able London  mercbant  seems  to  bave 
been  a  place  wbere  strangers  of  very 
different  pursuits,  wbo  resorted  to  tbe 
metropolis  of  England,  took  up  tbeir 
lodging :  and  to  Gilbert  Becket's  bouse 
came  persons  botb  disposed  and  quali- 
fied to  cultivate  in  various  ways  tbe 
extraordinary  talents  displayed  by  tbe 
youtb,  wbo  was  singularly  bandsome, 
and  of  engaging  manners.'^   A  knigbt, 

6  "  Quod  si  ad  generis  mei  radicem  et  proge- 
nitores  meos  intenderis,  elves  quidem  faerunt 
Londonienses,  in  medio  concivium  suorum  ha- 
bitantes  sine  querela,  nec  omnino  infimi." — 
Epist.  130.  Grim,  p.  9.    Pontiniac,  p.  96. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


17 


whose  name,  Kicliard  de  Aquila,  occurs 
with  distinction  in  the  annals  of  the 
time,  one  of  his  father's  guests,  delight- 
ed in  initiating  the  gay  and  spirited 
boy  in  chivalrous  exercises,  and  in  the 
chase  with  hawk  and  hound.  On  a 
hawking  adventure  the  young  Becket 
narrowly  escaped  being  drowned  in  the 
Thames.  At  the  same  time,  or  soon 
after,  he  was  inured  to  business  by  act- 
ing as  clerk  to  a  wealthy  relative,  Os- 
born  Octuomini,  and  in  the  office  of  the 
Sheriff  of  London.^  His  accomplish- 
ments were  completed  by  a  short  resi- 
dence in  Paris,  the  best  school  for  the 
language  spoken  by  the  Norman  no- 
bility. To  his  father's  house  came  like- 
wise two  learned  civilians  from  Bologna, 
no  doubt  on  some  mission  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury.  They  were  so 
captivated  by  young  Becket,  that  they 
strongly  recommended  him  to  Arch- 

8  Grim,  p.  8. 

2* 


18 


Thomas  d  Bccket. 


bisliop  Theobald,  whom  the  father  of 
Becket  remmded  of  their  common  hon- 
orable descent  from  a  knightly  family 
near  the  town  of  Thiersy.^  Becket  was 
at  once  on  the  high  road  of  advance- 
in  the  ment.  His  extraordinary  abil- 
5??hfArch-  ities  were  cultivated  by  the 
bishop.  ^^-gg  patronage,  and  employed 
in  the  service  of  the  primate.  Once  he 
accompanied  that  prelate  to  Rome;^^ 
and  on  more  than  one  other  occasion 
visited  that  great  centre  of  Christian 
affairs.  He  was  permitted  to  reside  for 
a  certain  time  at  each  of  the  great 
schools  for  the  study  of  the  canon  law, 
Bologna  and  Auxerre.^^  He  was  not, 

9  "  Eo  familiarius,  quod  praefatus  Gilbertus 
cum  domino  archipraesule  de  propinquitate  et 
genere  loquebatur:  ut  ille  ortu  Xormannus  et 
circa  Thierici  villam  de  equestri  ordine  natu 
vicinus." — Fitz-Stephen,  p.  184.  Thiersy  or 
Tbierchville. 

10  Roger  de  Pontigny,  p.  100. 

11  Fitz-Stepben,  p.  185. 


Thomas  d  BecJcet. 


19 


however,  without  enemies.  Even  in 
the  court  of  Theobald  began  the  jealous 
rivalry  with  Roger,  afterwards  Ai'ch- 
bishop  of  York,  then  Archdeacon  of 
Canterburj.^2  Twice  the  superior  influ- 
ence of  the  archdeacon  obtained  his  dis- 
missal from  the  service  of  Theobald; 
twice  he  was  reinstated  by  the  good 
offices  of  Walter,  Bishop  of  Rochester. 
At  length  the  elevation  of  Roger  to  the 
see  of  York  left  the  field  open  to  Beck- 
et.  He  was  appointed  to  the  vacant 
archdeaconry,  the  richest  benefi:ce,  after 
the  bishoprics,  in  England.  From  that 
time  he  ruled  without  rival  in  the  favor 
of  the  aged  Theobald.  Preferments 
were  heaped  upon  him  by  the  lavish 
bounty  of  his  patron.^^  During  his  exile 

12  According  to  Fitz-Stephen,  Thomas  was 
less  learned  (minus  literatus)  than"  his  rival,  but 
of  loftier  character  and  morals. — P.  184. 

13  "  PlurimsQ  ecclesiae,  praebendai  nonnuUae." 
Among  the  livings  were  one  in  Kent,  and  St. 


20        Thomas  d  B eclcet. 

lie  was  reproached  witli  his  ingratitude 
to  the  king,  who  had  raised  him  from 
poverty.  "Poverty!"  he  rejoined; 
"  even  then  I  held  the  archdeaconry  of 
Canterbury,  the  provostship  of  Bever- 
ley, a  great  many  churches,  and  several 
prebends."^^  The  trial  and  the  triumph 
of  Beehet's  precocious  abilities  was  a 
negotiation  of  the  utmost  difficulty 
with  the  court  of  Rome.  The  first  ob- 
ject was  to  obtain  the  legatine  power 
for  Archbishop  Theobald;  the  second 
tended,  more  than  almost  all  measures, 
to  secure  the  throne  of  England  to  the 
house  of  Plantagenet.  Archbishop 
Theobald,  Avith  his  clergy,  had  inclined 
to  the  cause  of  Matilda  and  her  son ; 
they  had  refused  to  officiate  at  the  coro- 
nation of  Eustace,  son  of  King  Stephen. 

Mary  le  Strand ;  among  the  prebends,  two  at 
London  and  Lincoln.  The  archdeaconry  of  Can- 
terbury was  worth  100  pounds  of  silver  a-year. 
14  Epist.  130. 


Thomas  d  B  echet .  21 

Becket  not  merely  obtained  from  Eu- 
genius  III.  the  full  papal  approbation 
of  this  refusal,  but  a  condemnation  of 
Stephen  (whose  title  had  before  been 
sanctioned  by  Eugenius  himself,)  as  a 
perjured  usurper.^^ 

But  on  the  accession  of  Henry  II.,  the 
aged  Archbishop  began  to  tremble  at 
his  own  work ;  serious  apprehensions 
arose  as  to  the  disposition  of  Accession  of 
the  young  king  towards  the 
Church.  His  connexion  was  but  re- 
mote wdth  the  imperial  family  (though 
his  mother  had  worn  the  imperial 
crown,  and  some  imperial  blood  might 
flow  in  his  veins) ;  but  the  Empire  was 
still  the  implacable  adversary  of  the 
papal  power.  Even  from  his  father  he 
might  have  received  an  hereditary 
taint  of  hatred  to  the  Church,  for  the 
Count  of  Anjou  had  on  many  occasions 

15  Lord  Lyttelton  gives  a  full  account  of  this 
transaction. — Book  i.  p.  213. 


22 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


shown  tlie  utmost  hostility  to  the  Hier- 
archy, and  had  not  scrupled  to  treat 
churchmen  of  the  highest  rank  with  un- 
exampled cruelty.  In  proportion  as  it 
was  important  to  retain  a  young  sover- 
eign of  such  vast  dominions  in  alle- 
giance to  the  Church,  so  was  it  alarm- 
ing to  look  forward  to  his  disobedience. 
The.  Archbishop  was  anxious  to  place 
near  his  person  some  one  who  might 
counteract  this  suspected  perversity, 
and  to  prevent  his  young  mind  from 
being  alienated  from  the  clergy  by 
fierce  and  lawless  counselors.  He  had 
discerned  not  merely  unrivaled  abilities, 
but  with  prophetic  sagacity,  his  Arch- 
deacon's lofty  and  devoted  churchman- 
ship.  Through-  the  recommendation  of 
the  primate,  Becket  was  raised  to  the 
dignity  of  chancellor,^^ an  office  which, 

16  This  remarkable  fact  in  Becket's  history 
rests  on  the  authority  of  his  friend,  John  of 
Salisbury  :  "Erat  enim  in  suspectu  adolescentia 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


23 


made  liim  the  second  civil  power  in  the 
realm,  inasmnch  as  his  seal  was  neces- 
sary to  countersign  all  royal  mandates. 
Kor  was  it  without  great  ecclesiastical 
influence,  as  in  the  chancellor  was  the 
appointment  of  all  the  royal  chaplains, 
and  the  custody  of  vacant  bishoprics, 
abbacies,  and  benefices.^^ 

regis  et  juvennmetpravorumhominum,  quorum 
conciliis  agi  videbatur  .  .  .  insipientiam 
et  malitiam  formidabat  .  .  .  cancellarium 
procurabat  in  curia  ordinari,  cujus  ope  et  opera 
novi  regis  ne  saeviret  in  ecclesiam,  impetum 
cohiberet  et  consilii  sui  temperaret  malitiam." 
— Apud  Giles,  p.  321.  This  is  repeated  in 
almost  the  same  words  bj  William  of  Canter- 
bury, vol.  ii.  p.  2.  Compare  what  may  be  read 
almost  as  the  dying  admonitions  of  Theobald  to 
the  king:  "Suggerunt  vobis  filii  sfeculi  hujus, 
ut  ecclesiae  minuatis  auctoritatem,  ut  vobis  regni 
dignitas  augeatur."  He  had  before  said,  "  Cui 
deest  gratia  Ecclesiae,  tota  creatrix  Trinitas  ad- 
versatur." — Apud  Boquet,  xvi.  p.  504.  Also 
Roger  de  Pontigny,  p.  101. 

1'  Fitz-Stephen,  p.  186.     Compare  on  the 


24 


Thomas  d  Beehet. 


But  the  Chancellor,  wlio  was  yet, 
Becket  ^^^^  ^  great  preferments. 
Chancellor,  deacon's  ordcrs,  might 

seem  disdainfullj  to  throw  aside  the 
habits,  feelings,  restraints  of  the  church- 
man, and  to  aspire  as  to  the  plenitude 
of  secular  power,  so  to  unprecedented 
secular  magnificence.^^  Becket  shone 
out  in  all  the  graces  of  an  accomplish- 
ed courtier,  in  the  bearing  and  valor  of 
a  gallant  knight ;  though  at  the  same 
time  he  displayed  the  most  consummate 
abilities  for  business,  the  promptitude, 
diligence,  and  prudence  of  a  practiced 
statesman.  The  beauty  of  his  person, 
the  affability  of  his  manners,  the  extra- 
ordinary acuteness  of  his  senses,^^  his  ac- 

office  of  chancellor  Lord  Campbell's  Life  of 
Becket. 

18  De  Bosham,  p.  17. 

19  See  a  curious  passage  on  the  singular  sen- 
sitiveness of  his  hearing,  and  even  of  his  smell. 
— Roger  de  Pontigny,  p.  96. 


T  h  0  m  a  s  a  B  ecket , 


25 


tivity  in  all  chivalrous  exercises,  made 
liim  the  chosen  companion  of  the  king 
in  his  constant  diversions,  in  the  chase 
and  in  the  mimic  war,  in  all  but  his 
debaucheries.  The  king  would  willing- 
ly have  lured  the  Chancellor  into  this 
companionship  likewise ;  but  the  silence 
of  his  bitterest  enemies,  in  confirmation 
of  his  own  solemn  protestations,  may  be 
admitted  as  conclusive  testimonies  to 
his  unimpeached  morals.^^  The  power 
of  Becket  throughout  the  king's  domin- 
ions equaled  that  of  the  king  himself 
— he  was  king  in  all  but  name :  the 
world,  it  was  said,  had  never  seen  two 

20  Eoger  de  Pontigny,  p,  104.  His  character 
by  John  of  Salisbury  is  remarkable:  "Erat 
supra  modum  captator  aurae  popularis  .  .  . 
etsi  superbus  esset  et  ranus  et  interdum  faciem 
praBtendebat  insipienter  amantium  et  verba  pro- 
ferret,  admirandus  tamen  et  imitandus  erat  in 
corporis  castitate.'" — P.  820.  See  an  adventure 
related  by  William  of  Canterbury,  p.  3. 


26        Thomas  d  Bec'ket. 


friends  so  entirely  of  one  mind.^^  Tlie 
well-known  anecdote  best  illustrates 
their  intimate  familiarity.  As  they 
rode  through  the  streets  of  London  on 
a  bleak  Winter  day  they  met  a  beggar 
in  rags.  "Would  it  not  be  charity/' 
said  the  king,  "  to  give  that  fellow  a 
cloak,  and  cover  him  from  the  cold  ?  " 
Becket  assented ;  on  which  the  king 
plucked  the  rich  furred  mantle  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  struggling  Chancellor 
and  threw  it,  to  the  amazement  and  ad- 
miration of  the  bystanders,  no  doubt  to 
the  secret  envy  of  the  courtiers  at  this 
proof  of  Becket's  favor,  to  the  shivering 
beggar.22 

But  it  was  in  the  graver  affairs  of 
the  realm   that  Henry  derived  still 

21  Grim,  p.  12.  Roger  de  Pontignj,  p.  102. 
Fitz-Stephen,  p.  192. 

22  Fitz-Stephen,  p.  191.  Fitz-Stephen  is  most 
fall  and  particular  on  the  chancellorship  of 
Becket. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


27 


greater  adA'autao-e  from  tlie  wisdom  and 
the  conduct  of  the  Chancellor.^^  To 
Becket's  counsels  his  admiring  biogra- 
phers attribute  the  pacification  of  the 
kingdom,  the  expulsion  of  the  foreign 
mercenaries  who  during  the  civil  wars 
of  Stephen's  reign  had  devastated  the 
land  and  had  settled  down  as  conquer- 
ors, especially  in  Kent,  the  humiliation 
of  the  refractory  barons  and  the  demo- 
lition of  their  castles.  The  peace  was 
so  profound  that  merchants  could  travel 
everywhere  in  safety,  and  even  the 
Jews  collect  their  debts.-"*  The  magnifi- 
cence of  Becket  redounded  to  the  glory 
of  his  sovereign.  In  his  ordinary  life 
he  was  sumptuous  beyond  precedent ; 
he  kept  an  open  table,  where  those  who 

23  It  is  not  quite  clear  how  soon  after  the  ac- 
cession of  Henry  the  appointment  of  the  chan- 
cellor took  place.  I  should  incline  to  the  earlier 
date,  A.  D.  1155. 

24  Fitz-Stephen,  p.  187. 


28 


Thorn  as  a  Bechet. 


were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  a 
seat  at  tlie  board  had  clean  rushes 
strewn  on  the  floor,  on  which  they 
might  repose,  eat,  and  carouse  at  the 
Chancellor's  expense.  Ilis  household 
was  on  a  scale  vast  even  for  that  age 
of  unbounded  retainership,  and  the 
haughtiest  Xorman  nobles  were  proud 
to  see  their  sons  brought  up  in  the 
family  of  the  merchant's  son.  In  his 
embassy  to  Paris  to  demand  the  hand 
Ambassador  of  the  Princess  Margaret  for 
A.  D.  1160.  the  king's  infant  son,  described 
with  such  minute  accuracy  by  Fitz- 
Stephen,^^  he  outshone  himself,  yet  might 
seem  to  have  a  loyal  rather  than  a  per- 
sonal aim  in  this  unrivaled  pomp.  The 
French  crowded  from  all  quarters  to 
see  the  splendid  procession  pass,  and 
exclaimed,  "What  must  be  the  king, 
whose  Chancellor  can  indulge  in  such 
enormous  expenditure?" 

25  p.  196. 


Thomas  d  Bec'ket. 


29 


Even  in  war  the  Chancellor  had  dis- 
played not  only  the  abilities  of  a  gen- 
eral, but  a  personal  prowess,  which, 
though  it  found  many  precedents  in 
those  times,  might  appear  somewhat 
incongruous  in  an  ecclesiastic,  who  yet 
held  all  his  clerical  benefices,  ^^rin 
In  the  expedition  made  by  King  to^io'^^^- 
Henry  to  assert  his  right  to  the  domin- 
ions of  the  Counts  of  Toulouse,  Becket 
appeared  at  the  head  of  seven  hundred 
knights  who  did  him  service,  and  fore- 
most in  every  adventurous  exploit  was 
the  valiant  Chancellor.  Becket's  bold 
counsel  urged  the  immediate  storming 
of  the  city,  which  would  have  been 
followed  by  the  captivity  of  the  King 
of  France.  Henry,  in  whose  character 
impetuosity  was  strangely  molded  up 
with  irresolution,  dared  not  risk  this 
violation  of  feudal  allegiance,  the  cap- 
tivity of  his  suzerain.  The  event  of  the 
war  showed  the  policy  as  well  as  the 


30        Tho  m  as  d  B  eclcet . 


superior  military  judgment  of  the  war- 
like Chancellor.  At  a  period  somewhat 
later,  Becket,  who  was  left  to  reduce 
certain  castles  which  held  out  against 
his  master,  unhorsed  in  single  combat 
and  took  prisoner  a  knight  of  great  dis- 
tinction, Engelran  de  Trie.  He  return- 
ed to  Henry  in  Xormandy  at  the  head 
of  1200  knights  and  4000  stipendiary 
horsemen,  raised  and  maintained  at  his 
own  charge.  If  indeed  there  were 
grave  churchmen  even  in  those  days 
who  were  revolted  by  these  achieve- 
ments in  an  ecclesiastic  (he  was  still 
only  in  deacon's  orders),  the  sentiment 
was  by  no  means  universal,  nor  even 
dominant.  With  some  his  valor  and 
military  skill  only  excited  more  ardent 
admiration.  One  of  his  biographers 
bursts  out  into  this  extraordinary  pane- 
gyric on  the  Archdeacon  of  Canterbury : 
Who  can  recount  the  carnage,  the 
desolation,  which  he  made  at  the  head 


Thomas  d  B  e  c/k  et .  31 


of  a  strong  body  of  soldiers  ?  He  at- 
tacked castles,  razed  towns  and  cities  to 
the  ground,  burned  down  houses  and 
farms  without  a  touch  of  pitv,  and 
never  showed  the  slightest  mercy  to  any 
one  who  rose  in  insurrection  against  his 
master's  authority."-^ 

The  services  of  Becket  were  not  un- 
rewarded; the  love  and  gratitude  of 
his  sovereign  showered  honors  and 
emoluments  upon  him.  Among  his 
I  .  grants  were  the  wardenship  of  the 
Tower  of  London,  the  lordship  of  the 
castle  of  Berkham2:>stead  and  the  honor 
of  Eye,  with  the  service  of  a  hundred 
and  forty  knights.  Yet  there  must 
have  been  other  and  more  pro-  -^vgaith  of 
lific  sources  of  his  wealth,  so^^^ket. 
lavishly  displayed.  Through  his  hands 
as  Chancellor  passed  almost  all  grants 
and  royal  favors.  He  was  the  guardian 
of  all  escheated  baronies  and  of  all 
26  Edward  Grim,  p.  12. 


32 


Thorn  a  a  d  Bechet. 


vacant  benefices.  It  is  said  in  liis  praise 
that  he  did  not  permit  the  king,  as  was 
common,  to  prolong  those  vacancies  for 
his  own  advantage,  that  thej  were  filled 
up  with  as  much  speed  as  possible ;  but 
it  should  seem,  by  subsequent  occur- 
rences, that  no  very  strict  account  was 
kept  of  the  king's  monies  spent  by  the 
Chancellor  in  the  king's  service  and 
those  expended  by  the  Chancellor  him- 
self. Tliis  seems  intimated  by  the  care 
which  he  took  to  secure  a  general  quit- 
tance from  the  chief  justiciary  of  the 
realm  before  his  elevation  to  the  arch- 
bishopric. 

But  if  in  liis  personal  habits  and  oc- 
cupations Becket  lost  in  some  degree 
the  churchman  in  the  secular  dignitary, 
was  he  mindful  of  the  solemn  trust  im- 
posed upon  him  by  his  patron  the  arch- 
bishop, and  true  to  the  interests  of  his 
order  ?  Did  he  connive  at,  or  at  least 
did  he  not  resist,  any  invasion  on  eccle- 


Thomas  a  Beehet. 


33 


siastical  immunities,  or,  as  tliej  were 
called,  the  liberties  of  the  clergy  ?  did 
he  hold  their  property  absolutely  sacred  ? 
It  is  clear  that  he  consented  to  levy  the 
scutage,  raised  on  the  whole  realm,  on 
ecclesiastical  as  well  as  secular  property. 
All  that  his  friend  John  of  Salisbury 
can'  allege  in  his  defence  is,  that  he  bit- 
terly repented  of  having  been  the  minis- 
ter of  this  iniquity .^"^  "  K  with  Saul  he 
persecuted  the  Church,  with  Paul  he  is 

27  John  of  Salisbury  denies  that  he  sanctioned 
the  rapacity  of  the  king,  and  urges  that  he  only 
yielded  to  necessity.  Yet  his  exile  was  the  just 
punishment  of  his  guilt.  "  Tamen  quia  eum 
ministrum  fuisse  iniquitatis  non  ambigo,  jure 
Optimo  taliter  arbitror  puniendum  ut  eo  potis- 
simum  puniatur  auctore,  quern  in  talibus  Deo 
bonorum  omnium  auctori  prseferebat.  .  .  . 
Sed  esto ;  nunc  poenitentiam  agit,  agnoscit  et 
confitetur  culpam  pro  ea,  et  si  cum  Saulo  quan- 
doque  ecclesiam  impugnavit,  nunc,  cum  Paulo 
ponere  paratus  est  animam  suam." — Bouquet, 
p.  518. 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


prepared  to  die  for  tlie  Cliureli."  But 
probably  tlie  worst  effect  of  this  conduct 
as  regards  King  Henry  was  the  encour- 
agement of  his  fatal  delusion  that,  as 
archbishop,  Becket  would  be  as  submis- 
sive to  his  wishes  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Church  as  had  been  the  pliant  Chancel- 
lor. It  was  the  last  and  crownmg  mark 
of  the  royal  confidence  that  Becket  was 
intrusted  with  the  education  of  the 
young  Prince  Henry,  the  heir  to  all  the 
dominions  of  the  king. 

Six  years  after  the  accession  of  Henry 
April,  1161.  H.  died  Theobald  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  On  the  character  of  his 
successor  depended  the  peace  of  the 
realm,  especially  if  Henry,  as  no  doubt 
he  did,  already  entertained  designs  of 
limiting  the  exorbitant  power  of  the 
Church.  Becket,  ever  at  his  right  hand, 
could  not  but  occur  to  the  mind  of  the 
king.  Kothing  in  his  habits  of  life  or 
conduct  could  impair  the  \\o^q  that  in 


Thomas  d  Bec'ket. 


35 


him  the  loyal,  the  devoted,  it  might 
seem  iinserupiiloiis  subject,  would  pre- 
dominate over  the  rigid  churchman. 
With  such  a  prime  minister,  attached 
by  former  benefits,  it  might  seem  by 
the  warmest  personal  love,  still  more 
by  this  last  proof  of  bonndless  confi- 
dence, to  his  person,  and  as  holding  the 
united  ofiices  of  Chancellor  and  Primate, 
ruling  supreme  both  in  Church  and 
State,  the  king  could  dread  no  resis- 
tance, or  if  there  were  resistance,  could 
subdue  it  without  difiiculty. 

Kumor  had  already  designated  Beck- 
et  as  the  future  primate.  A  churchman, 
the  Prior  of  Leicester,  on  a  visit  to 
Becket,  who  was  ill  at  Kouen,  pointing 
to  his  apparel,  said,  "  Is  this  a  dress  for 
an  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ?"  Becket 
himself  had  not  disguised  his  hopes  and 
fears.  '^Tliere  are  three  poor  priests  in 
England,  any  one  of  whose  elevation  to 
the  see  of  Canterbury  I  should  wish 


36 


Tho  m  as  d  B  ecket. 


rather  than  my  own.  I  know  the  very 
heart  of  the  king ;  if  I  should  be  pro- 
moted, I  must  forfeit  his  favor  or  that 
of  God.''28 

The  king  did  not  suddenly  declare 
his  intentions.  The  see  was  vacant  for 
above  a  year,-^  and  the  administration  of 
the  revenues  must  have  been  in  the  de- 
partment of  the  Chancellor.  At  length 
as  Becket,  who  had  received  a  commis- 
sion to  return  to  England  on  other  af- 
faii"^  of  moment,  took  leave  of  his  sover- 
eign at  Falaise,  Henry  hastily  informed 
him  that  those  affairs  were  not  the  main 
object  of  his  mission  to  England — it  was 
for  his  election  to  the  vacant  archbishop- 
ric .  Becket  remonstrated,  but  in  vain ; 
he  openly  warned,  it  is  said,  his  royal 
master  that  as  Primate  he  must  choose 

28  Fitz-Stephen,  p.  193. 

29  Theobald  died  April  18,  1161.  Becket  was 
ordained  priest  and  consecrated  on  Whitsunda; , 
1162. 


Thomas  d  B  echet .  49 

property  of  tlie  Church,  might  seem 
framed  almost  with  a  view  to  the  im- 
pending strife  with  England. 

Tliat  strife,  so  impetuous  might  seem 
tlie  combatants  to  join  issue,  beginning 
broke  out,  during  the  next  year, 
in  all  its  violence.  Both  parties,  if  they 
did  not  commence,  were  prepared  for 
aggression.  The  first  occasion  of  pub- 
lic collision  was  a  dispute  concerning 
the  customary  payment  of  the  ancient 
Danegelt,  of  two  shillings  on  every  hide 
of  land,  to  the  sheriffs  of  the  several 
counties.  The  king  determined  to 
transfer  this  payment  to  his  own  ex- 
chequer :  he  summoned  an  assembly  at 
Woodstock,  and  declared  his  intentions. 
All  were  mute  but  Becket ;  the  arch- 
bishop opposed  the  enrolment  of  the 
decree,  on  the  ground  that  the  tax  was 
voluntary,  not  of  right.  "  By  the  eyes 
of  God,"  said  Henry,  his  usual  oath, 
"  it  shall  be  enrolled !"    "  By  the  same 


50 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


ejes,  bj  wliicli  you  swear,"  replied  the 
prelate,  "it  shall  never  be  levied  on 
mv  lands  while  I  live  !''^^  On  Becket's 
part,  almost  the  first  act  of  his  primacy 
was  to  vindicate  all  the  rights,  and  to 
resnme  all  the  property  which  had  been 
usurped,  or  which  he  asserted  to  have 
been  nsnrped,  from  his  see.*^^  It  was  not 
likely  that,  in  the  turbulent  times  just 
gone  by,  there  would  have  been  rigid 
respect  for  the  inviolability  of  sacred 
property.  The  title  of  the  Church  was 
held  to  be  indefeasible.  Whatever  had 
once  belono^ed  to  the  Church  mio-ht  be 
recovered  at  any  time ;  and  the  ecclesi- 

This  strange  scene  is  recorded  by  Roger  de 
Pontignr,  who  received  his  information  on  all 
those  circumstances  from  Becket  himself,  or 
from  his  followers.    See  also  Grim,  p.  22. 

41  Becket  had  been  compelled  to  give  np  the 
rich  archdeaconry  of  Canterbury,  which  he 
seemed  disposed  to  hold  with  the  archbishopric. 
Geoffrey  Ridel,  who  became  archdeacon,  was 
afterwards  one  of  his  most  active  enemies. 


Thomas  d  Bec'ket. 


51 


astical  courts  claimed  the  sole  riglit  of 
adjudication  in  such  causes.  The  pri- 
mate was  thus  at  once  plaintiff,  judge, 
and  carried  into  execution  his  own 
judgments.  The  lord  of  the  manor  of 
Evnsford  in  Kent,  who  held  of  the  king, 
claimed  the  right  of  presentation  to  that 
benetice.  Becket  asserted  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  see  of  Canterbury.  On  the 
forcible  ejectment  of  his  nominee  by 
the  lord,  William  of  Eynsford,  Becket 
proceeded  at  once  to  a  sentence  of  ex- 
communication, without  regard  to  Eyns- 
ford's  feudal  superior  the  king.  The 
primate  next  demanded  the  castle  of 
Tunbridge  from  the  head  of  the  power- 
ful family  of  De  Clare ;  though  it  had 
been  held  by  De  Clare,  and  it  claims  of 
was  asserted,  received  in  ex- 
change  for  a  Xorman  Castle,  since  the 
time  of  William  the  Conqueror.  The 
attack  on  De  Clare  might  seem  a  defi- 
ance of  the  whole  feudal  nobility ;  a  de- 


52 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


termination  to  despoil  tliem  of  tlieir  con- 
quests, or  grants  from  the  sovereign. 

The  king,  on  his  side,  wisely  chose 
the  strongest  and  more  popular  ground 
of  the  immunities  of  the  clergy  from  all 
temporal  jurisdiction.  He  appeared  as 
guardian  of  the  public  morals,  as  ad- 
ministrator of  equal  justice  to  all  his 
Immunities  subiects,  as  protcctor  of  the 

of  the  1  ^  ' 

clergy.  pcace  01  the  realm.  Crimes 
of  great  atrocity,  it  is  said,  of  great  fre- 
quency, crimes  such  as  robbery  and 
homicide,  crimes  for  which  secular 
persons  were  hanged  by  scores  and 
without  mercy,  were  committed  almost 
with  impunity,  or  with  punishment 
.altogether  inadequate  to  the  offence  by 
the  clergy;  and  the  sacred  name  of 
clerk,  exempted  not  only  bishops,  ab- 
bots, and  priests,  but  those  of  the  low- 
est ecclesiastical  rank  from  the  civil 
power.  It  was  the  inalienable  right  of 
the  clerk  to  be  tried  only  in  the  court 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


53 


of  his  bishop ;  and  as  that  court  could 
not  award  capital  punishment,  the  ut- 
most penalties  were  flagellation,  impris- 
onment, and  degradation.  It  was  only 
after  degradation,  and  for  a  second 
offence  (for  the  clergy  strenuously  in- 
sisted on  the  injustice  of  a  second  trial 
for  the  same  act,)*^  that  the  meanest  of 
the  clerical  body  could  be  brought  to 
the  level  of  the  most  highborn  layman. 
But  to  cede  one  tittle  of  these  immuni- 
ties, to  surrender  the  sacred  person  of  a 
clergyman,  whatever  his  guilt,  to  the 
secular  power,  was  treason  to  the  sacer- 
dotal order:  it  was  giving  up  Christ 

42  The  king  was  willing  that  the  clerk  guilty 
of  murder  or  robbery  should  be  degraded  before 
he  was  hanged,  but  hanged  he  should  be.  The 
archbishop  insisted  that  he  should  be  safe  "  a 
laBsione  membrorum."  Degradation  was  in 
itself  so  dreadful  a  punishment,  that  to  hang 
also  for  the  same  crime  was  a  double  penalty. 
*'  If  he  returned  to  his  vomit,"  after  degradation, 
"he  might  be  hanged."— Compare  Grim,  p.  80. 


54: 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


(for  the  Eedeemer  was  supposed  actu- 
ally to  dwell  in  the  clerk,  though  his 
hands  might  be  stained  with  innocent 
blood)  to  be  crucified  by  the  heathen.^ 
To  mutilate  the  person  of  one  in  holy 
orders  was  directly  contrary  to  the 
Scripture  (for  with  convenient  logic, 
while  the  clergy  rejected  the  example 
of  the  Old  Testament  as  to  the  equal 
liability  of  priest  and  Levite  with  the 
ordinary  Jew  to  the  sentence  of  the  law, 
they  alleged  it  on  their  own  part  as  un- 
answerable.) It  was  inconceivable,  that 
hands  which  had  but  now  made  God 
should  be  tied  behind  the  back,  like 
those  of  a  common  malefactor,  or  that 
his  neck  should  be  wrung  on  a  gibbet, 
before  whom  kings  had  but  now  bowed 
in  reverential  homage.^ 

The  enormity  of  the  evil  is  acknowl- 

43  "  De  novo  judicatnr  Christus  ante  Pilatum 
prsesidem." — De  Bosham,  p.  117. 

44  De  Bosham,  p.  100. 


i 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


55 


edged  by  Becket's  most  ardent  parti- 
sans.^^ The  king  had  credible  informa- 
tion laid  before  him  that  some  of  the 
clergy  were  absolute  devils  in  guilt, 
that  their  wickedness  could  not  be 
repressed  by  the  ordinary  means  of 

45  The  fairness  with  which  the  question  is 
stated  by  Herbert  de  Bosham,  thB  follower, 
almost  the  worshiper  of  Becket,  is  remarkable. 
"  Arctabatur  itaqne  rex,  arctabatur  et  pontifex, 
Eex  etenim  populi  sui  pacem,  sicut  archiprsesul 
cleri  sui  zelans  libertatem,  audiens  sic  et  videns 
et  ad  multorum  relationes  et  querimonias  acci- 
piens,  per  hujuscemodi  castigationes,  talium 
clericorum  immo  verius  caracterizatorum,  dsemo- 
num  flagitia  non  reprimi  vel  potius  indies  per 
regnum  deterius  fieri."  He  proceeds  to  state 
at  length  the  argument  on  both  sides.  Another 
biographer  of  Becket  makes  strong  admissions 
of  the  crimes  of  the  clergy  :  "  Sed  et  ordinato- 
rum  inordinati  mores,  inter  regem  et  archepis- 
copum  auxere  malitiam,  qui  solito  dbundantius 
per  idem  tempus  apparebant  publicis  irretiti 
criminibus." — Edw.  Grim.  It  was  said  that  no 
less  than  100  of  the  clergy  were  charged  with 
homicide. 


56 


Thomas  d  Bechet, 


justice,  and  were  daily  growing  worse. 

Becket  himself  liad  protected  some 
notorious  and  heinous  offenders.  A 
clerk  of  the  diocese  of  "Worcester  had 
debauched  a  maiden  and  murdered  her 
father.  Becket  ordered  the  man  to  be 
kept  in  prison,  and  refused  to  surrender 
him  to  the  king's  justice.^^  Another  in 
London,  guilty  of  stealing  a  silver  gob- 
let, was  claimed  as  onlj  amenable  to 
the  ecclesiastical  court.  Philip  de 
Brois,  a  canon  of  Bedford,  had  been 
guilty  of  homicide.  The  cause  was 
tried  in  the  bishop's  court ;  he  was 
condemned  to  pay  a  fine  to  the  kindred 
of  the  slain  man.  Some  time  after, 
Fitz-Peter,  the  king's  justiciary,  whe- 
ther from  private  enmity  or  offence,  or 
dissatisfied  with  the  ecclesiastical  ver- 
dict, in  the  open  court  at  Dunstable, 
called  De  Brois  a  murderer.    De  Brois 

46  This,  according  to  Fitz-Stephen,  was  the 
first  cause  of  quarrel  with  the  king.  p.  215. 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


57 


broke  out  into  angiy  and  contumelious 
language  against  tlie  judge.    Tlie  in- 
sult to  tlie  justiciary  was  held  to  be  in-  * 
suit  to  tlie  king,  wbo  sought  justice,  | 
where  alone  he  could  obtain  it,  in  the 
bishop's  court.    Philip  de  Brois  this 
time  incurred  a  sentence,  to  our  notions 
almost  as  disproportionate  as  that  for 
his  former  offence.    He  was  condemn-  ! 
ed  to  be  publicly  whipped,  and  de- 
graded for  two  years  from  the  honors 
and  emoluments  of  his  canoiiry.    But  ; 
to  the  king  the  verdict  appeared  far  too  | 
lenient ;  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  was  i 
accused  as  shielding  the  criminal  from  \ 
his  due  penalty. 

Such  were  the  questions  on  which 
Becket  was  prepared  to  confront  q^^^^^^^^. 
and  to  wage  war  to  the  death  ofthemng. 
with  the  king ;  and  all  this  with  a  de- 
liberate knowledge  both- of  the  power 
and  the  character  of  Henry,  his  power  I 
as  undisputed  sovereign  of  England  I 


68 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


and  of  continental  territories  more  ex- 
tensive and  flourishing  than  those  of 
the  king  of  France.  These  dominions 
inchided  those  of  the  Conqueror  and 
his  descendants,  of  the  Counts  of  Anjou, 
and  the  great  inlieritance  of  his  wife, 
Queen  Eleanor,  the  old  kingdom  of 
Aquitaine  ;  they  reached  from  the 
borders  of  Flanders  round  to  the  foot 
of  the  Pji'enees.  This  almost  unrival- 
ed power  could  not  but  have  worked 
with  the  strong  natural  passions  of 
Henry  to  form  the  character  di*awn  by 
a  churchman  of  great  ability,  who 
would  warn  Becket  as  to  the  formidable 
adversary  whom  he  had  undertaken  to 
oppose, — "  You  have  to  deal  with  one 
on  whose  policy  the  most  distant  sov- 
ereigns of  Europe,  on  whose  power  his 
neighbors,  on  whose  severity  his  sub- 
jects look  with  awe;  whom  constant 
successes  and  prosperous  fortune  have 
rendered  so  sensitive,  that  every  act  of 


Thomas  a  Becket, 


59 


disobedience  is  a  personal  outrage ; 
whom  it  is  as  easy  to  provoke  as  diffi- 
cult to  appease ;  wlio  encourages  no 
rash  offence  by  impunity,  but  whose 
vengeance  is  instant  and  summary.  He 
will  sometimes  be  softened  by  humility 
and  patience,  but  will  never  submit  to 
compulsion ;  everything  must  seem  to 
be  conceded  by  his  own  free  will,  noth- 
ing wrested  from  his  weakness.  He  is 
more  covetous  of  glory  than  of  gain,  a 
commendable  quality  in  a  prince,  if 
virtue  and  truth,  not  the  vanity  and 
soft  flattery  of  courtiers,  awarded  that 
glory.  He  is  a  great,  indeed  the  great- 
est of  kings,  for  he  has  no  superior  of 
whom  he  may  stand  in  dread,  no  sub- 
ject who  dares  to  resist  him.  His  nat- 
nral  ferocity  has  been  subdued  by  no 
calamity  from  without ;  all  who  have 
been  involved  in  any  contest  with  him, 
have  preferred  the  most  precarious 
treaty  to  a  trial  of  strength  with  one  so 


60 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


pre-eminent  in  wealth,  in  tlie  number 
of  liis  forces,  and  the  greatness  of  his 
puissance.  ""^^ 

A  king  of  this  character  would  eager- 
ly listen  to  suggestions  of  interested  or 
flattering  courtiers,  that  unless  the 
Primate's  power  were  limited,  the  au- 
thority of  the  king  would  be  reduced  to 
nothing.  The  succession  to  the  throne 
would  depend  entirely  on  the  clergy, 
and  he  himself  would  reign  only  so 
long  as  might  seem  good  to  the  Arch- 
bishop. Xor  were  they  the  baser  cour- 
tiers alone  who  feared  and  hated  Becket. 

4T  See  throughout  this  epistle  of  Arnulf  of 
Lisieux,  Bouquet,  p.  230.  This  same  Arnulf 
was  a  crafty  and  double-dealing  prelate.  Grim 
and  Eoger  de  Pontigny  say  that  he  suggested 
to  Henry  the  policy  of  making  a  party  against 
Becket  among  the  English  bishops,  while  to 
Becket  he  plays  the  part  of  confidential  coun- 
sellor.—Grim,  p.  29.  K.  P.,  p.  119.  Will, 
Canterb.,  p.  6.  Compare  on  Arnulf,  Epist.  346, 
V.  11,  p.  189. 


I 


I 

T  horn  a  s  d  B  e  ck  et .  49 


property  of  tlie  Cliurcli,  might  seem 
framed  almost  with  a  view  to  the  im- 
pending strife  with  England. 

Tliat  strife,  so  impetuous  might  seem 
the  combatants  to  join  issue,  Be<-inning 
broke  out,  during  the  next  year, 
in  all  its  violence.  Both  parties,  if  they 
did  not  commence,  were  prepared  for 
aggression.  The  first  occasion  of  pub- 
lic collision  was  a  dispute  concerning 
the  customary  payment  of  the  ancient 
Danegelt,  of  two  shillings  on  .every  hide 
of  land,  to  the  sheriffs  of  the  several 
counties.  The  king  determined  to 
transfer  this  payment  to  his  own  ex- 
chequer :  he  summoned  an  assembly  at 
Woodstock,  and  declared  his  intentions. 
All  were  mute  but  Becket ;  the  arch- 
bishop opposed  the  enrolment  of  the 
decree,  on  the  ground  that  the  tax  was 
voluntary,  not  of  right.  "  By  the  eyes 
of  God,"  said  Henry,  his  usual  oath, 
^'  it  shall  be  enrolled !"      By  the  same 


50 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


eyes,  by  wliicli  jou  swear,"  replied  the 
prelate,  "  it  shall  never  be  levied  on 
mj  lands  while  I  live  !''*^  On  Becbet's 
part,  almost  the  first  act  of  his  primacy 
was  to  vindicate  all  the  rights,  and  to 
resume  all  the  property  which  had  been 
usurped,  or  which  he  asserted  to  have 
been  usurped,  from  his  see."*^  It  was  not 
likely  that,  in  the  turbulent  times  just 
gone  by,  there  would  have  been  rigid 
respect  for  the  inviolability  of  sacred 
property.  The  title  of  the  Church  was 
held  to  be  indefeasible.  Whatever  had 
once  belonged  to  the  Church  might  be 
recovered  at  any  time ;  and  the  ecclesi- 

40  This  strange  scene  is  recorded  by  Roger  de 
Pontignj,  who  received  his  information  on  all 
those  circumstances  from  Becket  himself,  or 
from  his  followers.    See  also  Grim,  p.  22. 

41  Becket  had  been  compelled  to  give  up  the 
rich  arjchdeaconry  of  Canterbury,  which  he 
seemed  disposed  to  hold  with  the  archbishopric. 
Geoffrey  Ridel,  who  became  archdeacon,  was 
afterwards  one  of  his  most  active  enemies. 


Til  omasa  B  e  chet . 


51 


as^ical  courts  claimed  the  sole  right  of 
adjudication  in  such  causes.  The  pri- 
mate was  thus  at  once  plaintiff,  judge, 
and  carried  into  execution  his  own 
.  The  lord  of  the  manor  of 
Ejnsford  in  Kent,  who  held  of  the  king, 
claimed  the  right  of  presentation  to  that 
benetice.  Becket  asserted  the  preroga- 
tive of  the  see  of  Canterbury.  On  the 
forcible  ejectment  of  his  nominee  by 
the  lord,  William  of  Eynsford,  Becket 
proceeded  at  once  to  a  sentence  of  ex- 
communication, without  regard  to  Eyns- 
ford's  feudal  superior  the  king.  The 
primate  next  demanded  the  castle  of 
Tunbridge  from  the  head  of  the  power- 
ful family  of  De  Clare ;  though  it  had 
been  held  by  De  Clare,  and  it  ciaims  of 
was  asserted,  received  in  ex- 
change  for  a  l^orman  Castle,  since  the 
time  of  William  the  Conqueror.  The 
attack  on  De  Clare  might  seem  a  defi- 
ance of  the  whole  feudal  nobility ;  a  de- 


judgments 


52 


TK  0  m  as  d  B  e  cket . 


termination  to  despoil  them  of  their  con- 
quests, or  grants  from  the  sovereign. 

The  king,  on  his  side,  wisely  chose 
the  strongest  and  more  popular  ground 
of  the  immunities  of  the  clergy  from  all 
temporal  jurisdiction.  He  appeared  as 
guardian  of  the  public  morals,  as  ad- 
ministrator of  equal  justice  to  all  his 
Immunities  subiects,  as  protector  of  the 

ofthe  ^        \  ^^  ^  r  - 

clergy.  pcacc  01  the  realm.  Crimes 
of  great  atrocity,  it  is  said,  of  great  fre- 
quency, crimes  such  as  robbery  and 
homicide,  crimes  for  which  secular 
persons  were  hanged  by  scores  and 
without  mercy,  were  committed  almost 
with  impunity,  or  with  punishment 
altogether  inadequate  to  the  offence  by 
the  clergy;  and  the  sacred  name  of 
clerk,  exempted  not  only  bishops,  ab- 
bots, and  priests,  but  those  of  the  low- 
est ecclesiastical  rank  from  the  civil 
power.  It  was  the  inalienable  right  of 
the  clerk  to  be  tried  only  in  the  court 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


53 


of  his  bishop ;  and  as  that  court  could 
not  award  capital  punishment,  the  ut- 
most penalties  were  flagellation,  impris- 
onment, and  degradation.  It  was  only 
after  degradation,  and  for  a  second 
oifence  (for  the  clergy  strenuously  in- 
sisted on  the  injustice  of  a  second  trial 
for  the  same  act,)*^  that  the  meanest  of 
the  clerical  body  could  be  brought  to 
the  level  of  the  most  highborn  layman. 
But  to  cede  one  tittle  of  these  immuni- 
ties, to  surrender  the  sacred  person  of  a 
clergyman,  whatever  his  guilt,  to  the 
secular  power,  was  treason  to  the  sacer- 
dotal order:  it  was  giving  up  Christ 

42  The  king  was  willing  that  the  clerk  guilty 
of  murder  or  robbery  should  be  degraded  before 
he  was  hanged,  but  hanged  he  should  be.  The 
archbishop  insisted  that  he  should  bo  safe  "  a 
laesione  membrorum."  Degradation  was  in 
itself  so  dreadful  a  punishment,  that  to  hang 
also  for  the  same  crime  was  a  double  penalty. 
*'  If  he  returned  to  his  vomit,"  after  degradation, 
"  he  might  be  hanged." — Compare  Grim,  p.  30. 


54 


Til  0  m  as  d  B  ecJcet . 


(for  the  Eedeemer  was  supposed  actu- 
ally to  dwell  in  the  clerk,  though  his 
hands  might  be  stained  with  innocent 
blood)  to  be  crucified  by  the  heathen.^ 
To  mutilate  the  person  of  one  in  holy 
orders  was  directly  contrary  to  the 
Scripture  (for  with  convenient  logic, 
while  the  clergy  rejected  the  example 
of  the  Old  Testament  as  to  the  equal 
liability  of  priest  and  Levite  with  the 
ordinary  Jew  to  the  sentence  of  the  law, 
they  alleged  it  on  their  OAvn  part  as  un- 
answerable.) It  Avas  inconceivable,  that 
hands  which  had  but  now  made  God 
should  be  tied  behind  the  back,  like 
those  of  a  common  malefactor,  or  that 
his  neck  should  be  wrung  on  a  gibbet, 
before  whom  kings  had  but  now  bowed 
in  reverential  homage.^ 

Tlie  enormity  of  the  evil  is  acknowl- 

43  "De  novo  judicatur  Cliristus  ante  Pilatum 
praesidem." — De  Bosham,  p.  117. 
4i  De  Bosham,  p.  100. 


Thomas  d  BecTcet. 


55 


edged  by  Becket's  most  ardent  parti- 
sans."^^ The  king  had  credible  informa- 
tion laid  before  him  that  some  of  tlie 
clergy  were  absolute  devils  in  guilt, 
that  their  wickedness  could  not  be 
rejDressed  by  the  ordinary  means  of 

45  The  fairness  with  which  the  question  is 
stated  by  Herbert  de  Bosham,  the  follower, 
almost  the  worshiper  of  Beckat,  is  remarkable. 
"  Arctabatur  itaque  rex,  arctabatur  et  poutifex. 
Kex  etenim  populi  sui  pacem,  sicut  archipra^siil 
cleri  sui  zelaus  libertatem,  audiens  sic  et  videns 
et  ad  multorum  relationes  et  querimonias  acci- 
piens,  per  hujuscemodi  castigationes,  talium 
clericorum  immo  verius  caracterizatorum,  dacmo- 
num  flagitia  non  reprimi  vel  potius  indies  per 
regnum  deterius  fieri."  He  proceeds  to  state 
at  length  the  argument  on  both  sides.  Another 
biographer  of  Becket  makes  strong  admissions 
of  the  crimes  of  the  clergy  :  ^  Sed  et  ordinato- 
rum  inordinati  mores,  inter  regem  et  archepis- 
copum  auxere  malitiam,  qui  solito  abundantius 
per  idem  tempus  apparebant  publicis  irretiti 
criminibus." — Edw.  Grim,  It  was  said  that  no 
less  than  100  of  the  clergy  were  charged  with 
homicide. 


56 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


justice,  and  were  daily  growing  worse. 

Eecket  himself  had  protected  some 
notorious  and  heinous  offenders.  A 
clerk  of  the  diocese  of  Worcester  had 
debauched  a  maiden  and  murdered  her 
father.  Becket  ordered  the  man  to  be 
kept  in  prison,  and  refused  to  surrender 
him  to  the  king's  justice.^^  Another  in 
London,  guilty  of  stealing  a  silver  gob- 
let, was  claimed  as  only  amenable  to 
the  ecclesiastical  court.  Philip  de 
Brois,  a  canon  of  Bedford,  had  been 
guilty  of  homicide.  The  cause  was 
tried  in  the  bishop's  court ;  he  was 
condemned  to  pay  a  fine  to  the  kindred 
of  the  slain  man.  Some  time  after, 
Fitz-Peter,  the  king's  justiciary,  whe- 
ther from  private  enmity  or  offence,  or 
dissatisfied  wkh  the  ecclesiastical  ver- 
dict, in  the  open  court  at  Dunstable, 
called  De  Brois  a  murderer.    De  Brois 

46  This,  according  to  Fitz-Stephen,  was  the 
first  cause  of  quarrel  with  the  king.  p.  215. 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  57 
 V  

broke  out  into  angry  and  contumelious 
language  against  tlie  judge.  Tlie  in- 
sult to  tlie  justiciary  was  held  to  be  in- 
sult to  tlie  king,  who  sought  justice, 
where  alone  he  could  obtain  it,  in  the 
bishop's  court.  Philip  de  Brois  this 
time  incurred  a  sentence,  to  our  notions 
almost  as  disproportionate  as  that  for 
his  former  offence.  He  was  condemn- 
ed to  be  publicly  whipped,  and  de- 
graded for  two  years  from  the  honors 
and  emoluments  of  his  canonry.  But 
to  the  king  the  verdict  appeared  far  too 
lenient ;  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  was 
accused  as  shielding  the  criminal  from 
his  due  penalty. 

Such  were  the  questions  on  which 
Becket  was  prepared  to  confront  c^^^^^^^^ 
and  to  wage  war  to  the  death  ofthemng. 
with  the  king ;  and  all  this  with  a  de- 
liberate knowledge  both  of  the  power 
and  the  character  of  Henry,  his  power 
as  undisputed  sovereign  of  England 


58 


Tliomas  a  Becket. 


and  of  continental  territories  more  ex- 
tensive and  flourishing  than  those  of 
the  king  of  France.  These  dominions 
inchided  those  of  the  Conqueror  and 
his  descendants,  of  the  Counts  of  Anjou, 
and  the  great  inlieritance  of  his  wife, 
Queen  Eleanor,  the  old  kingdom  of 
Aquitaine  ;  they  reached  from  the 
borders  of  Flanders  round  to  the  foot 
of  the  Pyrenees.  This  almost  unrival- 
ed power  could  not  but  have  worked 
with  the  strong  natural  passions  of 
Henry  to  form  the  character  drawn  by 
a  churchman  of  great  ability,  who 
would  warn  Becket  as  to  the  formidable 
adversary  whom  he  had  undertaken  to 
oppose, — "  You  have  to  deal  with  one 
on  whose  policy  the  most  distant  sov- 
ereigns of  Europe,  on  whose  power  his 
neighbors,  on  whose  severity  his  sub- 
jects look  with  awe;  whom  constant 
successes  and  prosperous  fortune  have 
rendered  so  sensitive,  that  every  act  of 


Thomas  d  BecJcet. 


59 


disobedience  is  a  personal  outrage ; 
whom  it  is  as  easy  to  provoke  as  diffi- 
cult to  appease ;  who  encourages  no 
rash  offence  by  impunity,  but  whose 
vengeance  is  instant  and  summary.  He 
will  sometimes  be  softened  by  humility 
and  patience,  but  will  never  submit  to 
compulsion ;  everything  must  seem  to 
be  conceded  by  his  own  free  will,  noth- 
ing wrested  from  his  weakness.  He  is 
more  covetous  of  glory  than  of  gain,  a 
commendable  quality  in  a  prince,  if 
virtue  and  truth,  not  the  vanity  and 
soft  flattery  of  courtiers,  awarded  that 
glory.  He  is  a  great,  indeed  the  great- 
est of  kings,  for  he  has  no  superior  of 
whom  he  may  stand  in  dread,  no  sub- 
ject who  dares  to  resist  him.  His  nat- 
ural ferocity  has  been  subdued  by  no 
calamity  from  without ;  all  who  have 
been  involved  in  any  contest  with  him, 
have  preferred  the  most  precarious 
treaty  to  a  trial  of  strength  with  one  so 


60 


Thomas  d  Becliet. 


pre-eminent  in  wealth,  in  tlie  number 
of  liis  forces,  and  tlie  greatness  of  his 
puissance.  "^"^ 

A  king  of  this  character  would  eager- 
ly listen  to  suggestions  of  interested  or 
flattering  courtiers,  that  unless  the 
Primate's  power  were  limited,  the  au- 
thority of  the  king  would  be  reduced  to 
nothing.  The  succession  to  the  throne 
would  depend  entirely  on  the  clergy, 
and  he  himself  would  reign  only  so 
long  as  might  seem  good  to  the  Arch- 
bishop. Xor  were  they  the  baser  cour- 
tiers alone  who  feared  and  hated  Becket. 

47  See  throughout  this  epistle  of  Arnulf  of 
Lisieux,  Bouquet,  p.  230.  This  same  Arnulf 
was  a  crafty  and  double-dealing  prelate.  Grim 
and  Roger  de  Pontigny  say  that  he  suggested 
to  Henry  the  policy  of  making  a  party  against 
Becket  among  the  English  bishops,  while  to 
Becket  he  plays  the  part  of  confidential  coun- 
sellor.—Grim,  p.  29.  R.  P.,  p.  119.  Will. 
Canterb.,  p.  6.  Compare  on  Arnulf,  Epist.  346, 
V.  11,  p.  189. 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


61 


The  nobles  miglit  tremble  from  the  ex- 
ample of  De  Clare,  with  whose  power- 
ful house  almost  all  the  Xorman  baron- 
age was  allied,  lest  every  royal  grant 
should  be  called  in  question.^'  Even 
among  the  clergy  Becket  had  bitter 
enemies ;  and  though  at  first  they  ap- 
peared almost  as  jealous  as  the  Primate 
for  the  privileges  of  their  order,  the 
most  able  soon  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  King ;  those  who  secretly  favored 
him  were  obliged  to  submit  in  silence. 

The  King,  determined  to  bring  these 
firreat  questions  to  issue  summon-  Parliament 

1    -r»     T  .  ofWest- 

ed  a  Parliament  at  NVestmmster.  minater. 
He  commenced  the  proceedings  by  en- 
larging on  the  abuses  of  the  archidiac- 
onal  courts.  The  archdeacons  kept 
the  most  watchful  and  inquisitorial 
superintendence  over  the  laity,  but 
every  offence  was  easily  commuted  for 

*5  Tliese  are  the  words  wliicli  Fitz -Stephen 
places  in  the  months  of  the  king's  conrtiers. 


62 


Th  omas  d  B  echet . 


a  pecuniar  J  fine,  wliicli  fell  to  tliem. 
The  King  complained  that  they  levied 
a  revenue  from  the  sins  of  the  people 
eqnal  to  his  own,  yet  that  the  pnblic 
morals  were  only  more  deeply  and  ir- 
retrievably depraved.  He  then  de- 
manded that  all  clerks  accused  of  hein- 
ons  crimes  should  be  immediately  de- 
graded and  handed  over  to  the  officers 
of  his  justice,  to  be  dealt  with  accord- 
ing to  law ;  for  their  guilt,  instead  of 
deserving  a  lighter  punishment,  was 
doubly  guilty :  he  demanded  this  in 
the  name  of  equal  justice  and  the  peace 
of  the  realm.  Becket  insisted  on  delay 
till  the  next  morning,  in  order  that  he 
might  consult  liis  suffragan  bishops. 
This  the  King  refused  :  the  bishops 
withdrew  to  confer  upon  their  answer. 
Tlie  bishops  were  disposed  to  yield, 
some  doubtless  impressed  with  the  jus- 
tice of  the  demand,  some  from  fear  of 
the  King,  some  from  a  prudent  convic- 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


63 


tion  of  the  danger  of  provoking  so 
I     powerful  a  monarch,  and  of  involving 
the  Church  in  a  quarrel  with  Hemy  at 
I      tlie  perilous  time  of  a  contest  for  the  - 
j     Papacy  which  distracted  Europe.  Beck- 
et  inflexibly  maintained  the  inviola- 
bility of  the  holy  persons  of  the  clergy  .^^ 
I     The  King  then  demanded  whether  they 
would  observe  the  "customs  of  the 
1     realm."    "  Saving  my  order,"  replied 
I     the  Archbishop.    That  order  was  still 
j     to  be  exempt  from  all  jurisdiction  but 
j     its  own.    So  answered  all  the  bishops 
except  Hilary  of  Chichester,  who  made 
I     the  declaration  without  reserve.^^  The 
I     Ejing  hastily  broke  up  the  assembly, 
I     and  left  London  in  a  state  of  consterna- 
I     tion,  the  people  and  the  clergy  agitated 
j     by  conflicting  anxieties.  He  immediate- 

I  49  Herbert  de  Bosham,  p.  109.  Fitz-Stephen, 

i  p.  209,  et  seq. 

I  50  "Dicens  se  observaturos  regias  consuetu- 

I  dines  bona  fide." 


64 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


\j  deprived  Becket  of  the  custody  of 
the  Rojal  Castles,  which  he  still  retain- 
ed, and  of  the  momentons  charge,  the 
education  of  his  son.  The  bishops  en- 
treated Becket  either  to  withdraw  or  to 
change  the  offensive  word.  At  first  he 
declared  that  if  an  angel  from  Heaven 
should  counsel  such  weakness,  he  would 
hold  him  accursed.  At  length,  how- 
ever, he  yielded,  as  Herbert  de  Bosham 
asserts  out  of  love  for  the  King,^^  by 
another  account  at  the  persuasion  of 
the  Pope's  Almoner,  said  to  have  been 
bribed  by  English  gold.^^  He  went  to 
Oxford  and  made  the  concession. 

The  King,  in  order  to  ratify  with  the 
Jan.  ii&i  utmost  solemnity  the  concession 
extorted  from  the  bishops,  and  even 
from  Becket  himself,  summoned  a  great 
.,  ,  council  of  the  realm  to  Claren- 

Council  of 

Clarendon.  (Jqj^^  ^  royal  palace  between 

51  Compare  W.  Canterb.,  p.  6. 

52  Grim,  p.  29. 


Thomas  d  B  echet ,  65 


three  and  four  miles  from  Salisbury. 
Tlie  two  arclibisliops  and  eleven  bishops, 
between  thirty  and  forty  of  the  highest 
nobles,  with  numbers  of  inferior  barons, 
were  present.  It  was  the  King's  ob- 
ject to  settle  beyond  dispute  the  main 
points  in  contest  between  the  Crown 
and  the  Church ;  to  establish  thus,  with 
the  consent  of  the  whole  nation,  an 
English  Constitution  in  Church  and 
State.  Becket,  it  is  said,  had  been  as- 
sured by  some  about  the  King  that  a 
mere  assent  would  be  demanded  to 
vague  an  ambiguous,  and  therefore  on 
occasion  disputable  customs.  But 
when  these  customs,  which  had  been 
collected  and  put  in  writing  by  the 
King's  order,  appeared  in  die  form  of 
precise  and  binding  laws,  drawn  up 
with  legal  technicality  by  the  Chief 
Justiciary,  he  saw  his  error,  wavered, 
and  endeavored  to  recede.^^  The  King 
^  Dr.  Lingard  supposes  that  Becket  demand- 


66 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


broke  out  into  one  of  liis  ungoyernable 
fits  of  passion.  One  or  two  of  the 
bisliops  who  were  ont  of  favor  with,  the 
King  and  two  knights  Templars  on 
their  knees  implored  Becket  to  abandon 
his  dangerous,  fruitless,  and  ill-timed 
resistance.  The  Archbishop  took  the 
oath,  which  had  been  already  sworn  to 
by  all  the  lay  barons.  He  was  follow- 
ed by  the  rest  of  the  bishops,  re- 
luctantly according  to  one  account, 
and  compelled  on  one  side  by  their 
dread  of  the  lay  barons,  on  the  other 
by  the  example  and  authority  of  the 
Primate,  according  to  Becket's  biog- 

ed  that  the  cnstoms  should  be  reduced  to  "writ- 
ing. This  seems  quite  contrary  to  his  policy  ; 
and  Edward  Grim  writes  thus :  "  Nam  domes- 
tici  regis,  dato  consentiente  consilio,  securem 
fecerant  archepiscopum,  quod  nunquam  scrihe- 
rentur  leges,  nunquam  illarum  fieret  recordatio, 
si  eum  verbo  tantum  in  audientia  procerum 
honorasset,"  &c. — P.  31. 


Thomas  d  Beclzet, 


67 


raphers,  eagerly  and  of  tlieir  own  ac- 
cord.^ 

These  famons  constitutions  were  of 
course  feudal  in  tlieir  form  and  spirit. 
But  they  aimed  at  the  subjection  of  all 
the  great  prelates  of  the  realm  constitutions 
to  the  Crown  to  the  same  ex-  ofci^rendon. 
tent  as  the  great  barons.  The  new  con- 
stitution of  England  made  the  bishops' 
fiefs  to  be  granted  according  to  the 
royal  will,  and  subjected  the  whole  of 
the  clergy  equally  with  the  laity  to  the 
common  laws  of  the  land.^^  I.  On  the 
vacancy  of  every  archbishopric,  bishop- 
ric, abbey,  or  priory,  the  revenues  came 
into  the  King's  hands.  He  was  to  sum- 
mon those  who  had  the  right  of  election, 
which  was  to  take  place  in  the  King's 
Chapel,  with  his  consent,  and  the  coun- 

^  See  tlie  letter  of  Gilbert  Foliot,  of  ^vhicli  I 
do  not  doubt  the  authenticity. 

^  According  to  the  Cottonian  copy,  publish- 
ed by  Lord  Lyttelton,  Constitutions  xii.  xv.  iv. 


6$ 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


sel  of  noljles  cliosen  bj  the  King  for 
this  office.  The  prelate  elect  was  im- 
mediatelv  to  do  homage  to  the  King  as 
his  liege  lord,  for  life,  limb,  and  worldly 
honors,  excepting  his  order.  The  arch- 
bishoj)5,  bishops,  and  all  beneficiaries, 
held  their  estates  on  the  tenure  of 
baronies,  amenable  to  the  King's  jus- 
tice, and  bound  to  sit  with  the  other 
barons  in  all  pleas  of  the  Crown,  except 
in  capital  cases.  Xo  archbishop,  bishop, 
or  any  other  person  could  quit  the 
realm  without  rojal  permission,  or  with- 
out taking  an  oath  at  the  King's  requi- 
sition, not  to  do  any  damage  either 
going,  staying,  or  returning,  to  the  King 
or  the  kingdom. 

n.  All  clerks  accused  of  any  crime 
were  to  be  summoned  before  the  King's 
Courts.  The  King's  justiciaries  were 
to  decide  whether  it  was  a  case  for  civil 
or  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction.  Those 
which  belonged  to  the  latter  were  to  be 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


69 


removed  to  tlie  Bishops'  Court.  If  the 
clerk  was  found  guilty  or  confessed  his 
guilt,  the  Church  could  protect  him  no 
longer.^^ 

III.  All  disputes  concerning  advow- 
sons  and  presentations  to  benefices  were 
to  be  decided  in  the  King's  Courts  ;  and 
the  King's  consent  was  necessary  for  the 
appointment  to  any  benefice  within  the 
King's  domain.^^ 

lY.  1^0  tenant  in  chief  of  the  King, 
none  of  the  officers  of  the  King's  house- 
hold, could  be  excommunicated,  nor  his 
lands  placed  under  interdict,  until  due 
information  had  been  laid  before  the 
King  ;  or,  in  his  absence  from  the  realm, 
before  the  great  Justiciary,  in  order  that 
he  might  determine  in  each  case  the 
respective  rights  of  the  civil  and  eccle- 
siastical courts.^ 

56  Constitution  iii.    57  Constitutions  i.  and  ii. 
58  Constitution  vii.,  somewliat  limited  and 
explained  by  x. 


TO 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


Y.  Appeals  lay  from  the  ardideacon 
to  the  bisho]3,  from  the  bishop  to  the 
Archbishop.  On  failure  of  justice  by 
the  Archbishop,  in  the  last  resort  to 
the  King,  who  was  to  take  care  tliat 
justice  was  done  in  the  Archbishop's 
Court ;  and  no  further  appeal  was  to  be 
made  without  the  King's  consent.  Tliis 
was  manifestly  and  avowedly  intended 
to  limit  appeals  to  Kome. 

All  these  statutes,  in  number  sixteen, 
were  restrictions  on  the  distinctive 
immunities  of  the  clergy ;  one,  and 
that  unnoticed,  was  really  an  invasion 
of  popular  freedom  ;  no  son  of  a  villien 
could  be  ordained  without  tlie  consent 
of  his  lord. 

Some  of  these  customs  were  of  doubt- 
ful authenticity.  On  the  main  ques- 
tion, the  exorbitant  powers  of  the  eccle- 
siastical courts  and  the  immunity  of  the 
clergy  from  all  other  jurisdiction,  there 
was  an  unrepealed  statute  of  William 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


71 


the  Conqueror.  Before  the  Conquest 
the  bishop  sate  with  the  alderman  in 
the  same  court.  The  statute  of  William 
created  a  separate  jurisdiction  of  great 
extent  in  the  spiritual  court.  Tliis  was 
not  done  to  aggrandize  the  Church,  of 
which  in  some  respects  the  Conqueror 
was  jealous,  but  to  elevate  the  import- 
ance of  the  great  Norman  prelates 
whom  he  had  thrust  into  the  English 
sees.  It  raised  another  class  of  power- 
.  ful  feudatories  to  support  the  foreign 
throne,  bound  to  it  by  common  interest 
as  well  as  by  the  attachment  of  race. 
But  at  this  time  neither  party  took  any 
notice  of  the  ancient  statute.  The  King's 
advisers  of  course  avoided  the  danger- 
ous question ;  Becket  and  the  Church- 
men (Becket  himself  declared  that' he 
was  unlearned  in  the  customs),  standing 
on  the  divine  and  indefeasible  right  of 
the  clergy,  could  hardly  rest  on  a  recent 
statute  granted  by  the  royal  will,  and 


72 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


therefore  liable  to  be  annulled  bj  tbe 
same  authority.  The  Customs,  they 
averred,  were  of  themselves  illegal,  as 
clashing  with  higher  irrepealable  laws. 

To  these  Customs  Becket  had  now 
sworn  without  reserve.  Three  copies 
were  ordered  to  be  made — one  for  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  one  for 
York,  one  to  be  laid  up  in  the  royal 
archives.  To  these  the  King  demand- 
ed the  further  guarantee  of  the  seal  of 
the  different  parties.  Tlie  Primate, 
whether  already  repenting  of  his  assent, 
or  under  the  vague  impression  that  this 
was  committMg  himself  still  further 
(for  oaths  might  be  absolved,  seals  could 
not  be  torn  from  public  documents), 
now  obstinately  refused  to  make  any 
further  concession.  The  refusal  threw 
suspicion  on  the  sincerity  of  his  former 
act.  The  King,  the  other  prelates,  the 
nobles,  all  but  Becket,^^  subscribed  and 

59  Herbert  de  Bosliam.     "  Caute  quidam 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


73 


sealed  the  Constitutions  of  Clarendon  as 
the  laws  of  England. 

As  the  Primate  rode  from  Winches- 
ter in  profound  silence,  meditating  on 
the  acts  of  the  council  and  on  his  own 
conduct,  one  of  his  attendants,  who  has 
himself  related  the  conversation,  endea- 
vored to  raise  his  spirits.  "It  is  a  fit 
punishment,"  said  Becket,  "for  one 
who,  not  trained  in  the  school  of  the 
Saviour,  but  in  the  King's  court,  a  man 
of  pride  and  vanity,  from  a  follower  of 
hawks  and  hounds,  a  patron  of  players, 
has  dared  to  assume  the  care  of  so  many 
souls."  ^  De  Bosham  significantly  re- 
minded his  master  of  St.  Peter,  his 
denial  of  the  Lord,  his  subsequent 

non  de  piano  negat,  sed  differendum  dicebat 
adhuc." 

60  "  Superbus  et  vaniis,  de  pastore  avium 
factus  sum  pastor  ovium ;  dudum  fautor  histrio- 
num  et  eorum  sectator  tet  apimarum  pastor."- 
De  Bosham,  p.  126. 
7 


—  

74:       T  ho  771  as  d  B  ecket . 


repentance.  On  his  return  to  Canter- 
bury Becket  imposed  upon  himself 
the  severest  mortification,  and  suspend- 
ed himself  from  his  function  of  offering 
the  sacrifice  on  the  altar.  He  wrote 
]  April  1.  almost  immediately  to  the  Pope 
to  seek  counsel  and  absolution  from  his 
oath.  He  received  both.  The  absolu- 
tion restored  all  his  vivacity. 

But  the  I\ing  had  likewise  his  emis- 
saries with  the  Pope  at  Sens.  He 
endeavored  to  obtain  a  legatine  com- 
mission over  the  whole  realm  of  Eng- 
land for  Becket's  enemy,  Koger  Arch- 
bishop of  York,  and  a  recommendation 
from  the  Pope  to  Becket  to  observe  the 
"  customs  "  of  the  realm.  Two  embas- 
sies were  sent  by  the  King  for  this  end : 
first  the  Bishops  of  Lisieux  and  Poitiers ; 
then  Geoffrey  Ridel,  Archdeacon  of 
Canterbury  (who  afterwards  appears  so 
hostile  to  the  Primate  as  to  be  called  by 
him  that  archdevit,  not  archdeacon), 
• 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  75 

and  the  subtle  John  of  Oxford.  Tlie 
embarrassed  Pope  (tlironghont  it  must 
be  remembered  that  there  was  a  formid- 
able Antipope),  afraid  at  once  of  estrang- 
ing Henrj,  and  unwilling  to  abandon 
Becket,  granted  the  legation  to  the 
Archbishop  of  York.  To  the  Primate's 
great  indignation,  Roger  had  his  cross 
borne  before  him  in  the  province  of 
Canterbury.  On  Becket's  angry  re- 
monstrance, the  Pope,  while  on  the  one 
hand  he  enjoined  on  Becket  the  greatest 
caution  and  forbearance  in  the  inevit- 
able contest,  assured  him  that  he  would 
never  permit  the  see  of  Canterbury  to 
be  subject  to  any  authority  but  his 
own.^i 

®iRead  the  Epistles,  apiid  Giles,  y.  ir.  1,  3, 
Bonquet,  xvi.  210,  to  judge  of  the  skillful  steer- 
ing and  difficulties  of  the  Pope.  There  is  a 
very  curious  letter  of  an  emissary  of  Becket, 
describing  the  death  ©f  the  Antipope  (he  died 
at  Lucca,  April  21).    The  canons  of  San  Fredi- 


76        Thomas  d  BecJcet. 


Becket  secretly  went  down  to  Lis 
estate  at  Roninej,  near  the  sea-coast,  in 
the  hope  of  crossing  the  straits,  and  so 
finding  refuge  and  maintaining  his  cause 
by  his  personal  presence  with  the  Pope. 
Stormy  weather  forced  him  to  abandon 
his  design.  He  then  betook  himself  to 
the  King  at  "Woodstock.  He  was  cold- 
ly receiyed.    The  King  at  fii'st  dissem- 

ano,  in  Lucca,  refused  to  bnry  him,  because  lie 
was  already  "buried  in  hell."  The  writer  an- 
nounces that  the  Emperor  also  was  Ul,  that  the 
Empress  had  miscarried,  and  that  therefore 
all  France  adhered  with  greater  devotion  to 
Alexander;  and  the  Legatine  commission  to 
the  Archbuhojp  of  York  had  expired  icithouthope 
oj  recovery.  The  writer  yentures,  however,  to 
suggest  to  Becket  to  conduct  himself  with 
modesty ;  to  seek  rather  than  avoid  intercourse 
with  the  king. — Apud  Giles,  iv.  240 ;  Bouquet, 
p.  210.  See  also  the  letter  of  John,  Bishop  of 
Poitiers,  who  says  of  the  Pope,  "  Gravi  redimit 
poenitentia,  illam  qualem  qualem  quam  Ebo- 
racensi  (fecerit),  concessionem." — Bouquet,  p. 
214. 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


77 


bled  his  knowledge  of  tlie  Primate's 
attempt  to  cross  the  sea,  a  direct  viola- 
tion of  one  of  the  constitutions ;  bnt  on 
his  departm*e  he  asked  with  bitter  jocu- 
larity whether  Becket  had  sought  to 
leave  the  realm  because  England  could 
not  contain  himself  and  the  King.^^ 

The  tergiversation  of  Becket,  and  his 
attempt  thus  to  violate  one  of  "  the  Con- 
stitutions of  Clarendon,  to  which  he 
had  sworn,  showed  that  he  was  not 
to  be  bound  by  oaths.  E'o  treaty  could 
be  made  where  one  party  claimed  the 
power  of  retracting,  and  might  at  any 
time  be  released  from  his  covenant.  In 
the  mind  of  Henry,  whose  will  had 
never  yet  met  resistance,  the  determina- 
tion was  confirmed,  if  he  could  not  sub- 
due the  Prelate,  to  crush  the  refractory 

62  I  follow  De  Bosham.    Fitz-Stephen  says 

that  he  was  repelled  from  the  gates  of  the  king's 

palace  at  "Woodstock ;  and  that  he  afterwards 

went  to  Romney  to  attempt  to  cross  the  sea. 
7* 


78 


Th  0  m  as  d  B  e  c  ket. 


subject.  Becket's  enemies  possessed  - 
the  King's  ear.  Some  of  those  enemies 
no  donbt  hated  him  for  his  former  favor 
with  the  King,  some  dreaded  lest  the 
severity  of  so  inflexible  a  prelate  should 
curb  their  license,  some  held  property 
belonging  to  or  claimed  by  the  Church, 
some  to  flatter  the  King,  some  in  honest 
indignation  at  the  duplicity  of  Becket 
and  in  love  of  peace,  but  all  concurred 
to  inflame  the  resentment  of  Henry,  and 
to  attribute  to  Becket  words  and  de- 
signs insulting  to  the  King  and  disparag- 
ing to  the  royal  authority.  Becket, 
holding  such  notions  as  he  did  of  Church 
power,  would  not  be  cautious  in  assert- 
ing it ;  and  whatever  he  might  utter  in 
his  pride  would  be  embittered  rather 
than  softened  when  repeated  to  the 
King. 

Since  the  Council  of  Clarendon  Beck- 
et stood  alone.  All  the  higher  clergy, 
the  great  prelates  of  the  kingdom,  were 


Thomas  d  Becket.  79 

now  either  his  open  adversaries  or  were 
compelled  to  dissemble  their  favor  to- 
wards him.  Whether  alienated,  as 
some  declared,  by  his  pusillanimity  at 
Clarendon,  bribed  by  the  gifts  or  over- 
awed by  the  power  of  the  I^ng,  whe- 
ther conscientiously  convinced  that  in 
such  times  of  schism  and  division  it 
might  be  fatal  to  the  interests  of  the 
Church  to  advance  her  loftiest  preten- 
sions, all,  especially  the  Archbishop  of 
York,  the  Bishops  of  London,  Salisbury 
and  Chichester,  were  arrayed  on  the 
King's  side.  Becket  himself  attributed 
the  chief  guilt  of  his  persecution  to  the 
bishops.  "  The  King  would  have  been 
quiet  if  they  had  not  been  so  tamely 
subservient  to  his  wishes."^^ 

Before  the  close  of  the  year  Becket  was 
cited  to  appear  before  a  great  council  of 

63  "  Quievisset  ille,  si  non  acquievissent  illi." 
— Becket,  Epist.  ii.  p.  5.  Compare  the  whole 
letter. 


80        Thomas  d  BecTcet. 


Kth^ii'ptoi!  realm  at  I^ortliampton. 
Oct.  6, 1164.  ■  England  crowded  to  wit- 
ness this  final  strife,  it  might  be  between 
the  royal  and  the  ecclesiastical  power. 
The  Primate  entered  ^Northampton  with 
only  his  own  retinue ;  the  King  had 
passed  the  afternoon  amusing  himself 
with  hawking  in  the  pleasant  meadows 
around.  The  Archbishop,  on  the  fol- 
lowing morning  after  mass,  appeared 
in  the  King's  chamber  with  a  clieerful 
countenance.  The  King  gave  not,  ac- 
cording to  English  custom,  the  kiss  of 
peace. 

The  citation  of  the  Primate  before 
the  King  in  council  at  ^Northampton 
was  to  answer  a  charge  of  withholding 
justice  from  John  the  Marshall  em- 
ployed in  the  king's  exchequer,  who 
claimed  the  estate  of  Pagaham  from 
the  see  of  Canterbury.  Twice  had 
Becket  been  summoned  to  appear  in 
the  king's  court  to  answer  for  this  denial 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


81 


of  justice :  once  he  had  refused  to  ap- 
pear, the  second  time  he  did  not  appear 
in  person.  Becket  in  vain  alleged  an 
informality  in  the  original  proceedings 
of  John  the  Marshall.^^  The  court,  the 
bishops,  as  well  as  the  barons,  declared 
him  guilty  of  contumacy ;  all  his  goods 
and  chattels  became,  according  to  the 
legal  phrase,  at  the  king's  mercy.^^ 
The  fine  was  assessed  at  500  pounds. 
Becket  submitted,  not  without  bitter 
irony:  "This,  then,  is  one  of  the  new 
customs  of  Clarendon."  But  he  pro- 
tested against  the  unheard-of  audacity 
that  the  bishops  should  presume  to  sit 
in  judgment  on  their  spiritual  parent; 

64  He  had  been  sworn  not  on  the  Gospels,  but 
on  a  troplogium,  a  book  of  church  music. 

65  Goods  and  chattels  at  the  king's  mercy 
were  redeemable  at  a  customary  fine :  this  fine, 
according  to  the  customs  of  Kent,  would  have 
been  larger  than  according  to  those  of  London. 
— ^Fitz-Stephen. 


82 


Thomas  d  BecJcet. 


it  was  a  greater  crime  than  to  nncoTer 
their  father's  nakedness.^^  Sarcasms 
and  protests  passed  alike  without  no- 
tice. But  the  bishops,  all  except  Foliot, 
Demands  conscntcd  to  bccome  sureties  for 
on  Becket.  ^|^.g  exorbltaut  fine.  Demands 
rising  one  above  another  seemed  framed 
for  the  purpose  of  reducing  the  Arch- 
bishop to  the  humiliating  condition  of 
a  debtor  to  the  King,  entirely  at  his 
disposal.  First  300  pounds  were  de- 
manded as  due  from  the  castles  of  Eye 
and  Berkhampstead.  Becket  pleaded 
that  he  had  expended  a  much  larger 
sum  on  the  repairs  of  the  castles :  he 
found  sureties  likewise  for  this  pay- 
ment, the  Earl  of  Gloucester,  William 
of  Eynsford,  and  another  of  "  his  men." 
The  next  day  the  demand  was  for  500 
pounds  lent  by  the  King  during  the 

66  "  Minus  fore  malum  verenda  patris  detecta 
deridere,  quam  patris  ipsius  personam  judicare." 
— De  Bosliam,  p.  135. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


83 


siege  of  Toulouse.  Becket  declared  that 
this  was  a  gift,  not  a  loan  but  the 
King  denying  the  plea,  judgment  was 
again  entered  against  Becket.  At 
last  came  the  overwhelming  charge,  an 
account  of  all  the  monies  received  dur- 
ing his  chancellorship  from  the  vacant 
archbishopric  and  from  other  bishoprics 
and  abbeys.  The  debt  was  calculated 
at  the  enormous  sum  of  44,000  marks. 
Becket  was  astounded  at  this  unexpect- 
ed claim.  As  chancellor,  in  all  likeli- 
hood, he  had  kept  no  very  strict  ac- 
count of  what  was  expended  in  his  own 
and  in  the  royal  service ;  and  the  King 
seemed  blind  to  this  abuse  of  the  royal 
right,  by  which  so  large  a  sum  had  ac- 
cumulated by  keeping  open  those  bene- 
fices which  ought  to  have  been  instantly 
filled.    Becket,  recovered  from  his  first 

67  Fitz-Stephen  states  this  demand  at  500 
marks,  and  a  second  500  for  which  a  bond  had 
been  given  to  a  Jew. 


84 


Thomas  d  B ecTcet . 


amazement,  replied  that  he  had  not 
been  cited  to  answer  on  such  charge;  at 
another  time  he  dionld  be  prepared  to 
answer  all  just  demands  of  the  Crown. 
He  now  requested  delay,  in  order  to 
advise  with  his  suffragans  and  the 
clergy.  He  withdrew;  but  from  that 
time  no  single  baron  visited  the  object 
of  the  royal  disfavor.  Becket  assem- 
bled all  the  poor,  even  the  beggars, 
who  could  be  found,  to  fill  his  vacant 
board. 

In  his  extreme  exigency  the  Primate 
Takes  coun-  consulted  separately  first  the 
bishops,  bishops,  then  the  abbots. 
Their  adivce  was  different  according  to 
their  characters  and  their  sentiments 
towards  him.  He  had  what  might  seem 
an  unanswerable  plea,  a  formal  acquit- 
tance from  the  Chief  Justiciary  De  Lnci, 
the  King's  representative,  for  all  obli- 
gations incurred  in  his  civil  capacity 
before  his  consecration  as  archbish- 


T  It  0  hi  a  s  d      echet .  85 

op.^^     Tlie  King,   however,   it  was 
known,  declared  that  he  had  given 
no  such  authority.    Becket  had  the 
further  excuse  that  all  which  he  now 
possessed  was   the   property  of  the 
Church,  and  could  not  be  made  liable 
for  responsibilities  incurred  in  a  sec- 
ular  capacity.     The  bishops,  how- 
1      ever,  were   either  convinced  of  the 
i      insufficiency  or  the  inadmissibility  of 
i      that  plea.  Henry  of  Winchester  recom- 
mended an  endeavor  to  purchase  the 
;      King's  pardon ;  he  offered  2000  marks 
as  his  contribution.     Others  urged 

&s  Neither  party  denied  this  acquittance  given 
in  the  King's  name  by  the  justiciary  Richard  de 
Lnci.  This,  it  should  seem,  unusual  precaution, 
or  at  least  this  precaution  taken  -with  such  un- 
usual care,  seems  to  imply  some  suspicion  that 
■without  it,  the  archbishop  was  liable  to  be  called 
to  account ;  an  account  which  probably,  from 
the  splendid  prodigality  with  which  Becket  had 
lavished  the  King's  money  and  his  own,  it  might 

be  difficult  or  inconvenient  to  produce. 
8 


86 


Thomas  d  Bec'ket. 


Becket  to  stand  on  liis  dignity,  to  defy 
the  worst,  under  the  shelter  of  his 
priesthood;  no  one  would  venture  to 
lay  hands  on  a  holy  prelate.  Foliot 
and  his  party  betrayed  their  ohject.^^ 
They  exhorted  him  as  the  only  way  of 
averting  the  implacable  wrath  of  the 
King  at  once  to  resign  his  see.  "Would," 
said  Hilary  of  Chichester,  "  you  were 
no  longer  archbishop,  but  plain  Tho- 
mas. Tliou  knowest  the  King  better 
than  we  do ;  he  has  declared  that  thou 
and  he  cannot  remain  together  in  Eng- 
•  land,  he  as  King,  thou  as  Primate. 
Who  will  be  bound  for  such  an  amount? 
Throw  thyself  on  the  King's  mercy,  or 

69  In  an  account  of  this  affair,  written  later, 
Becket  accuses  Foliot  of  aspiring  to  the  primacy 
— "et  qui  adspirabant  ad  fastigium  ecclesi?e 
Cantuarensis,  ut  vulgo  dicitur  et  creditur,  in 
nostram  perniciem,  utinam  minus  ambitiosc, 
quam  avide."  This  could  be  none  but  Foliot. — 
Epist.  Ixxv.  p.  154. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


87 


to  the  eternal  disgrace  of  tlie  Clmrcli 
tliou  wilt  be  arrested  and  imprisoned 
as  a  debtor  to  tlie  Crown."  The  next 
day  was  Sunday;  the  Archbishop  did 
not  leave  his  lodgings.  On  Monday 
the  agitation  of  his  spirits  had  brought 
on  an  attack  of  a  disorder  to  which  he 
was  subject :  he  was  permitted  to  repose. 
On  the  morrow  he  had  determined  on 
his  conduct.  At  one  time  he  had  seri- 
ously meditated  on  a  more  humiliating 
course :  he  proposed  to  seek  the  royal 
presence  barefooted  wdth  the  cross  in 
his  hands,  to  throw  himself  at  the  King's 
feet,  appealing  to  his  old  affection,  and 
imploring  him  to  restore  peace  to  the 
Church.  What  had  been  the  effect  of 
such  a  step  on  the  violent  but  not  un- 
generous heart  of  Henry?  But  Becket 
yielded  to  the  haughtier  counsels  more 
congenial  to  his  own  intrepid  character. 
He  began  by  the  significant  act  of  cele- 
brating, out  of  its  due  order,  the  ser- 


88 


Til  omas  d  B  e  elect . 


vice  of  St.  Steplien,  the  first  martyr. 
It  contained  passages  of  liolv  writ  (as 
no  doubt  Henry  was  instantly  inform- 
ed) concerning  '*  kings  taking  counsel 
ao:ainst  tlie  ofodlv."  Tlie  mass  con- 
eluded;  in  all  the  majesty  of  his  holy 
character,  in  his  full  pontifical  habits, 
himself  beaiing  the  archiepiscopal  cross, 
the  Primate  rode  to  the  King's  resi- 
Becket  in  dcucc,  and  dismouutiug  entered 

the  King's     ,  -i  i     n  mi 

haiL  the  royal  hall,  ihe  cross  seem- 
ed, as  it  were,  an  uplifting  of  the  ban- 
ner of  the  Church,  in  defiance  of  that 
of  the  King,  in  the  royal  presence  '^^  or 
it  might  be  in  that  awful  imitation  of 
the  Saviour,  at  which  no  scruple  was 

"0  "  Tanquain  in  proelio  Domini,  signifer  Do- 
mini, vexillum  Domini  erigens;  illud  etiam  Do- 
mini non  solum  spiritualiter,  sed  et  figuraliter 
implens.  '  Si  quis,'  inqnit,  '  vult  mens  esse  dis- 
cipulus,  abneget  semet  ipsmn,  toUat  crucem 
6uam  et  sequatnr  me.' " — De  Bosham,  p.  143. 
Compare  the  letter  of  the  Bishops  to  the  Pope. 
—Giles,  iv.  256 :  Bouqtiet.  224. 


Thomas  d  BecTiet. 


89 


ever  made  by  tlie  bolder  chnrclimeii — 
it  was  the  servant  of  Christ  who  him- 
self bore  his  own  cross.  What  means 
this  new  fashion  of  the  Archbishop 
bearing  his  own  cross  ?"  said  the  Arch- 
deacon Lisieux.  "  A  fool,"  said  Foliot, 
"  he  always  was  and  always  will  be." 
They  made  room  for  him ;  he  took  his 
accustomed  seat  in  the  centre  of  the 
bishops.  Foliot  endeavored  to  per- 
suade him  to  lay  down  the  cross.  "  If 
the  sword  of  the  King  and  the  cross  of 
the  Archbishop  were  to  come  in  conflict, 
which  were  the  more  fearful  weapon?" 
Becket  held  the  cross  firmly,  which 
Foliot  and  the  Bishop  of  Hereford 
strove,  but  in  vain,  to  wrest  from  his 
grasp. 

The  bishops  were  summoned  into  the 
King's  presence:  Becket  sat  alone  in 
the  outer  hall.  The  Archbishop  of 
York,  who,  as  Becket's  partisans  assert- 
ed, designedly  came  later  that  he  might 


90 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


appear  to  be  of  the  King's  intimate 
conncil,  swept  through  the  hall  with  his 
cross  borne  before  him.  Like  hostile 
spears  cross  confronted  cross."^^ 

During  this  interval  De  Bosham,  the 
archbishop's  reader,  wdio  had  reminded 
his  master  that  he  had  been  standard- 
bearer  of  the  King  of  England,  and  w^as 
now  the  standard-bearer  of  the  King  of 
the  Angels,  put  this  question,  "  If  they 
should  lay  their  impious  hands  upon 
thee,  art  thou  prepared  to  fulminate 
excommunication  against  them  ? "  Fitz- 
Stephen,  who  sat  at  his  feet,  said  in  a 
loud  clear  voice,  "That  be  far  from  thee ; 
so  did  not  the  Apostles  and  Martyrs  of 
God  :  they  prayed  for  their  persecutors 
and  forgave  them."    Some  of  his  more 

"^1  "  Quasi  pila  miiiantia  pilis,"  quotes  Fitz- 
Stephen  ;  "Memento,"  saidDe  Bosliam,  "quon- 
dam te  extitisse  regis  Anglorum  signiferum  in- 
expugnabilem,  nunc  vero  si  signifer  regis  Ange- 
lorum  expugnaris,  turpissimum." — ^p.  146. 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


91 


attached  followers  burst  into  tears.  "  A 
little  later,"-  says  tlie  faithful  Fitz- 
Stepheii  of  himself,  "  when  one  of  the 
King's  ushers  would  not  allow  me  to 
speak  to  the  Archbishop,  I  made  a  sign 
to  him  and  drew  his  attention  to  the 
Saviour  on  the  cross." 

The  bishops  admitted  to  the  King's 
presence  announced  the  appeal  of  the 
Archbishop  to  the  Pope,  and  his  inhi- 
bition to  his  suffragans  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment in  a  secular  council  on  their 
metropolitan."^^  These  were  again  di- 
rect infringements  on  two  of  the  con- 
stitutions of  Clarendon,  sworn  to  by 
Becket  in  an  oalh  still  held  valid  by  the 

"^2  "  Dicebant  enim  episcopi,  quod  adhuc,  ipsa 
die,  intra  decern  dies  dataa  sententiee,  eos  ad 
dominum  Papam  appellaverat,  et  ne  de  cetero 
eum  judicarent  pro  seculari  querela,  quae  de 
tempore  ante  archipraesulatum  ei  moveretur, 
auctoriate  domini  Papae  prohibuit."  —  Fitz- 
Stephen,  p.  230. 


02 


Thomas  d  B eclcet. 


King  and  liis  barons.  Tlie  King  ap- 
pealed to  the  coimcil.  Some  seized  the 
occasion  of  boldly  declaring  to  the  King 
that  he  had  brought  this  difficulty  on 
himself  by  advancing  a  low-born  man 
conderana-  to  sucli  favor  and  dis-nity.  All 

tion  of  " 

Becket.  agreed  that  Becket  was  guilty 
of  perjury  and  treason.'^  A  kind  of 
low  acclamation  followed  which  was 
heard  in  the  outer  room  and  made 
Becket's  followers  tremble.  The  King 
sent  certain  counts  and  barons  to  de- 
mand of  Becket  whether  he,  a  liegeman 
of  the  King,  and  sworn  to  observe  the 
constitutions  of  Clarendon,  had  lodged 
this  appeal  and  pronounced  this  inhibi- 
tion ?  Tlie  Archbishop  replied  with 
quiet  intrepidity.  In  his  long  speech 
he  did  not  hesitate  for  a  word ;  he  plead- 
ed that  he  had  not  been  cited  to  answer 
these  charges;  he  alleged  again  the 
Justiciary's  acquittance  ;  he  ended  by 
73  Herbert  de  Bosham,  p.  146. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


93 


solemnly  renewing  his  inhibition  and 
his  appeal :  "  My  person  and  my  Church 
I  place  under  the  protection  of  the 
sovereign  Pontiff." 

The  barons  of  Normandy  and  Eng- 
land heard  with  wonder  this  defiance 
of  the  King.  Some  seemed  awe-struck 
and  were  mute ;  the  more  fierce  and 
lawless  could  not  restrain  their  indigna- 
tion. The  Conqueror  knew  best  how 
to  deal  with  these  turbulent  churchmen. 
He  seized  his  own  brother,  Odo  Bishop 
of  Bayeux,  and  chastised  him  for  his 
rebellion;  he  threw  Stigand,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  into  a  fetid  dun- 
geon. The  Count  of  Anjou,  the  King's 
father,  treated  still  worse  the  bishop 
elect  of  Seez  and  many  of  his  clergy  : 
he  ordered  them  to  be  shamefully 
mutilated  and  derided  their  sufferings." 

The  King  summoned  the  bishops,  on 
their  allegiance  as  barons,  to  join  in 
sentence  against  Becket.    But  the  inhi- 


94 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


bition  of  their  metropolitan  liad  thrown 
them  into  embarrassment,  and  perhaps 
they  felt  that  the  offence  of  Becket,  if 
not  capital  treason,  bordered  nj)on  it. 
It  might  be  a  sentence  of  blood,  in 
which  no  churchman  might  concur  by 
his  suffrage — they  dreaded  the  breach 
of  canonical  obedience.  They  entered 
the  hall  where  Becket  sat  alone.  The 
gentler  prelates,  Robert  of  Lincoln  and 
others,  were  moved  to  tears ;  even 
Henry  of  Winchester  advised  the  arch- 
bishop to  make  an  unconditional  sur- 
render of  his  see.  Tlie  more  vehement 
Hilary  of  Chichester  addressed  him 
thus :  Lord  Primate,  we  have  just 
cause  of  complaint  against  you.  Your 
inhibition  has  placed  us  between  the 
hammer  and  the  anvil :  if  we  disobey 
it,  wx  violate  our  canonical  obedience ; 
if  we  obey,  we  infringe  the  constitutions 
of  the  realm  and  offend  the  King's 
majesty.    Yourself  were  the  first  to 


Thomas  d  Sechet. 


95 


subscribe  the  customs  at  Clarendon, 
you  now  compel  us  to  break  them.  TTe 
appeal,  by  the  King's  grace^o  our  lord 
the  Pope."    Becket  answered  "  I  hear." 

They  returned  to  the  King,  and  with 
difficulty  obtained  an  exemption  from 
concurrence  in  the  sentence ;  they  pro- 
mised to  join  in  a  supplication  to  the 
Pope  to  depose  Becket.  The  King  per- 
mitted their  appeal.  Robert  Earl  of 
Leicester,  a  grave  and  aged  nobleman, 
was  commissioned  to  pronounce  the 
sentence.  Leicester  had  hardly  begun 
when  Becket  sternly  interrupted  him. 
"  Thy  sentence  !  son  and  Earl,  hear  me 
first !  The  King  was  pleased  to  pro- 
mote me  against  my  will  to  the  arch- 
bishopric of  Canterbury.  I  was  then 
declared  free  from  all  secular  obliga- 
tions. Ye  are  my  children  ;  presume 
ye  against  law  and  reason  to  sit  in  judg- 
ment on  your  spiritual  father  ?  I  am 
to  be  judged  only,  under  God,  by  the 


96        Tlio  m  a  s  d  B  e  cket . 


Pope.  To  liiin  I  appeal,  before  liim  I 
cite  you,  barons  and  mj  suffragans,  to 
appear,  lender  the  protection  of  tlie 
Catholic  Church  and  the  Apostolic  See 
I  depart !  "  He  rose  and  walked 
slowly  down  the  hall.  A  deep  murmur 
ran  through  the  crowd.  Some  took  up 
straws  and  threw  them  at  him.  One 
uttered  the  word  "  Traitor !  "  Tlie  old 
chivalrous  spirit  woke  in  the  soul  of 
Becket.  ""Were  it  not  for  my  order, 
you  should  rue  that  word."  But  by 
other  accounts  he  restrained  not  his 
language  to  this  pardonable  impropriety 
— ^he  met  scorn  with  scorn.  One  officer 
of  the  King's  household  he  upbraided 
for  haring  had  a  kinsman  hanged. 
Anselm,  the  King's  brother,  he  called 
bastard  and  catamite."  Tlie  door  was 

"^^  De  Bosham's  acconnt  is,  that  notwithstand- 
ing the  first  interruption,  Leicester  reluctantly 
proceeded  till  he  came  to  the  word  "perjured," 
on  which  Becket  rose  and  spoke. 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  97 

locked,  but  fortnnatelj  the  key  was 
found.  He  passed  out  into  tlie  street, 
where  he  was  received  by  the  populace, 
to  whom  he  had  endeared  himself  by 
his  charities,  his  austerities,  perhaps  by 
his  courageous  opposition  to  the  king 
and  the  nobles,  amid  loud  acclamations. 
They  pressed  so  closely  around  him  for 
his  blessing  that  he  could  scarcely  guide 
his  horse.  He  returned  to  the  church 
of  St.  Andrew,  placed  his  cross  by  the 
altar  of  the  Virgin.  "  This  was  a  fear- 
ful day,"  said  Fitz-Stephen.  "The  day 
of  judgment,"  he  replied,  "  will  be  more 
fearful."  After  supper  he  sent  the 
Bishops  of  Hereford,  Worcester,  and 
Rochester  to  the  King  to  request  per- 
mission to  leave  the  kingdom :  the  King 
coldly  deferred  his  answer  till  the 
morrow. 

Becket  and  his  friends  no  doubt 

thought  his  life  in  danger :  he  is  said 

to  have  received  some  alarming  warn- 
9 


98        Thomas  a  Bechet. 


ings.'^^  It  is  reported,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  the  King,  apprehensive  of 
the  fierce  zeal  of  his  followers,  issued  a 
proclamation  that  no  one  should  do 
harm  to  the  archbishop  or  his  people. 
It  is  more  likely  that  the  King,  who 
must  have  known  the  peril  of  attempt- 
ing the  life  of  an  archbishop,  would 
have  apprehended  and  committed  him 
to  prison.  Becket  expressed  his  inten- 
tion to  pass  the  night  in  the  church : 
his  bed  was  strewn  before  the  altar. 
Flight  of  At  midnight  he  rose,  and  with 
Oct.  13.  only  two  monks  and  a  servant 
stole  out  of  the  northern  gate,  the  only 
one  which  was  not  guarded.  He  carried 
with  him  only  his  archiepiscopal  pall 
and  his  seal.  The  weather  was  wet  and 
stormy,  but  the  next  morning  they 
reached  Lincoln,  and  lodged  with  a 
pious  citizen — piety  and  admiration  of 
Becket  were  the  same  thing.  At  Lin- 
75  De  Boshara,  p.  150. 


Thomas  d  B  ecket .  99 


coin  lie  took  the  disguise  of  a  monk, 
dropped  down  the  Witliam  to  a  hermit- 
age in  the  fens  belonging  to  the  Cister- 
cians of  Sempringham ;  thence  by  cross- 
roads, and  chiefly  by  night,  he  found 
his  way  to  Estrey,  about  five  miles  from 
Deal,  a  manor  belonging  to  Christ 
Church  in  Canterbury.  He  remained 
there  a  week.  On  All  Souls  Day  he 
went  on  board  a  boat,  just  before  morn- 
ing, and  by  the  evening  reached  the 
coast  of  Flanders.  To  avoid  observa- 
tion he  landed  on  the  open  shore  near 
Gravelines.  His  large,  loose  shoes  made 
it  difficult  to  wade  through  the  sand 
without  falling.  He  sat  down  in  des- 
pair. After  some  delay  was  obtained 
for  a  prelate,  accustomed  to  the  pranc- 
ing war-horse  or  stately  cavalcade,  a 
sorry  nag  without  a  saddle,  and  with  a 
wisp  of  hay  for  a  bridle.  But  he  soon 
got  weary  and  was  fain  to  walk.  He 
had  many  adventures  by  the  way.  He 


100 


TK  0  m  as  d  B  ecJcet . 


was  once  nearly  betrayed  by  gazing 
with  delight  on  a  falcon  upon  a  young 
squire's  wrist :  his  fright  punished  him 
for  his  relapse  into  his  secular  vanities. 
The  host  of  a  small  inn  recognized  him 
by  his  lofty  look  and  the  whiteness  of 
his  hands.  At  length  he  arrived  at  the 
monastery  of  Clair  Marais,  near  St. 
Omer  :  he  was  there  joined  by  Herbert 
de  Bosham,  who  had  been  left  behind 
to  collect  what  money  he  could  at  Can- 
terbury ;  he  brought  but  100  marks 
and  some  plate,  ^hile  he  was  in  this 
part  of  Flanders  the  Justiciaiy,  Richard 
de  Luci.  passed  through  the  town  on  his 
way  to  England.  He  tried  in  vain  to 
persuade  the  archbishop  to  return  with 
him :  Becket  suspected  his  friendly 
overtures,  or  had  resolutely  determined 
not  to  put  himself  again  in  the  King's 
power. 

In  the  first  access  of  indignation  at 
Becket's  flight  the  King  had  sent  orders 


Thomas  d  BecJiet.  101 


I 

i 

I 


for  strict  watch  to  be  kept  in  the  ports 
of  the  kingdom,  especially  Dover.  The 
next  measure  was  to  pre-occnpv  the 
minds  of  the  Count  of  Flanders,  the 
Eang  of  France,  and  the  Pope  against 
his  fugitive  subject.  Henrv  could  not 
but  foresee  how  fonnidable  an  ally  the 
exile  might  become  to  his  rivals  and 
enemies,  how  dangerous  to  his  extensive 
but  ill-consolidated  foreign  dominions. 
He  might  know  that  Becket  would  act 
and  be  received  as  an  independent  po- 
tentate. The  rank  of  his  ambassadors 
implied  the  importance  of  their  mission 
to  France.  They  were  the  Archbishop 
of  York,  the  Bishops  of  London,  Exeter, 
Chichester,  and  Worcester,  the  Earl  of 
Arundel,  and  three  other  distinguished 
nobles.  The  same  day  that  Becket 
passed  to  Gravelines,  they  crossed  from 
Dover  to  Calais.'^ 

Foliot  and  the  King's  envoys  crossed  the 
same  day.    It  is  rather  amusing  that,  though 
9* 


102      Thomas  d  BecJcet. 


The  Earl  of  Flanders,  though  with 
Becket  ^ouie  cause  of  hostility  to  Beck- 
m  exile.  -^^^  offered  him  a  refuge  ;  yet 
perhaps  was  not  distinctly  informed  or 
would  not  know  that  the  exile  was  in 
his  dominions."  He  received  the  King's 
envoys  with  civility.  The  King  of 
France  was  at  Compiegne.  Tlie 
strongest  passions  in  the  feeble  mind  of 
Louis  YIL  were  jealousy  of  Henry  of 

Becket  crossed  the  same  day  in  an  open  boat, 
and,  as  is  incautiously  betrayed  by  his  friends, 
suffered  much  from  the  rough  sea,  the  weather 
is  described  as  in  his  case  ahnost  miraculously 
favorable,  in  the  other  as  miraculously  tempes- 
tuous. So  that  -vrhile  Becket  calmly  glided  over, 
Foliot  in  despair  of  his  life  threw  off  his  cowl 
and  cope. 

"^"^  Compare,  however,  Roger  of  Pontigny. 
By  his  account,  the  Count  of  Flanders,  a  rela- 
tive and  partisan  of  Henry  ("  consanguineus  et 
qui  partes  ejus  fovebat ")  would  have  arrested 
him.  He  escaped  over  the  border  by  a  trick. — 
Roger  de  Pontigny,  p.  148. 


Thomas  d  JBecTcet, 


103 


England,  and  a  servile  bigotry  to  the 
Clinrcli,  to  wliicli  lie  seemed  determined 
to  compensate  for  the  hostility  and  dis- 
obedience of  his  yonth.  Against  Hen- 
ry, personally,  there  were  old  causes  of 
hatred  rankling  in  his  heart,  not  the 
less  deep  because  they  could  not  be 
avowed.  Henry  of  England  was  now 
the  husband  of  Eleanor,  who,  after  some 
years  of  marriage,  had  contemptuously 
divorced  the  I^ng  of  France  as  a  monk 
rather  than  as  a  husband,  had  ^^^^  ^^^^ 
thrown  herself  into  the  arms  of 
Henry  and  carried  with  her  a  dowry 
as  large  as  half  the  kingdom  of  France. 
There  had  since  been  years  either  of 
fierce  war,  treacherous  negotiations,  or 
.  jealous  and  armed  peace,  between  the 
rival  sovereigns. 

Louis  had  watched,  and  received 
regular  accounts  of  the  proceedings  in 
England ;  his  admiration  of  Becket  for 
his  lofty  churchmanship  and  daring 


Thomas  d  Bec'ket. 


opposition  to  Hemy  was  at  its  heiglit, 
scarcely  disguised.  He  had  already  in 
secret  offered  to  receive  Becket,  not  as 
a  fugitive,  but  as  the  sliarer  in  his  king- 
dom. The  ambassadors  appeared  before 
Louis  and  presented  a  letter  urging  the 
Iving  of  France  not  to  admit  within  his 
dominions  the  traitor  Thomas,  late 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  "  Late 
Louis  of  Archbishop !  and  who  has  pre- 
France.  g^^^j  dcposc  lum  ?  I  am  a 
king,  like  my  brother  of  England ;  I 
should  not  dare  to  depose  the  meanest 
of  my  clergy.  Is  this  the  King's  grati- 
tude for  the  services  of  his  Chancellor, 
to  banish  him  from  France,  as  he  has 
done  from  England  Louis  wi'ote  a 
strong  letter  to  the  Pope,  recommend- 
ing to  his  favor  the  cause  of  Becket  as 
his  own. 

Ambassadors     Tlic  ambassadors  passed  on- 
at  Sens.       ^^ards  to  Seus,  where  resided 
"^3  Giles,  iv.  253;  Bouquet,  p.  217. 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


105 


the  Pope  Alexander  III.,  himself  an  ex- 
ile, and  opposing  his  spiritual  power  to 
the  highest  temporal  anthoritj,  that  of 
the  Emperor  and  his  subservient  Anti- 
pope.  Alexander  was  in  a  position  of 
extraordinary  difficulty :  on  the  one  side 
were  gratitude  to  King  Henry  for  his 
firm  support,  and  the  fear  of  estranging 
so  powerful  a  sovereign,  on  whose  un- 
rivaled wealth  he  reckoned  as  the  main 
strength  of  his  cause ;  on  the  other,  the 
dread  of  offending  the  King  of  France, 
also  his  faithful  partisan,  in  whose  do- 
minions he  was  a  refugee,  and  the  duty, 
the  interest,  the  strong  inclination  to 
maintain  every  privilege  of  the  hierar- 
chy. To  Henry  Alexander  almost  owed 
his  pontificate.  His  first  and  most  faith- 
ful adherents  had  been  Theobald  the 
primate,  the  English  Church,  and  Hen- 
ry King  of  England ;  and  when  the 
weak  Louis  had  entered  into  dangerous 
negotiations  at  Lannes  with  the  Em- 


108 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


Tlie  ambassadors  of  Heniy  were  re- 
The  King's    ccived  ill  state  in  the  open 

ambassadors  ,  ^ 

at  Sens.  conslstorj.  FoHot  of  London 
began  witli  liis  usual  ability ;  liis  warmth 
at  length  betrayed  him  into  the  Scrip- 
tural citation,  —  "  Tlie  wicked  fleeth 
when  no  man  pursueth."  "  Forbear," 
said  the  Pope.  "  I  will  forbear  him," 
answered  Foliot.  "  It  is  for  thine  own 
sake,  not  for  his,  that  I  bid  thee  for- 
bear." The  Pope's  severe  manner 
silenced  the  Bishop  of  London.  Hilary, 
Bishop  of  Chichester,  who  had  over- 
weening confidence  in  his  eloquence, 
began  a  long  harangue ;  but  at  a  fatal 
blunder  in  his  Latin,  the  whole  Italian 
court  burst  into  laughter.^^  Tlie  dis- 
comfited orator  tried  in  vain  to  proceed. 

motus  est  et  indignatus."  The  Welsh  were  in 
arms  against  the  King:  this  borders  on  high 
treason. — Apud  Giles,  iii.  1.    Bouquet,  221. 

81  The  word  "oportuebat"  was  too  bad  for 
monkish,  or  rather  for  Roman,  ears. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


109 


The  Archbisliop  of  York  spoke  with 
prudent  brevit}^.  The  Count  of  Arun- 
del, more  cautious  or  less  learned,  used 
his  native  N^orman.  His  speech  was 
mild,  grave,  and  conciliatory,  and  there- 
fore the  most  embarrassing  to  the  Pon- 
tiff. Alexander  consented  to  send  his 
cardinal  legates  to  England;  but  nei- 
ther the  arguments  of  Foliot,  nor  those 
of  Arundel,  who  now  rose  to  something 
like  a  menace  of  recourse  to  the  Anti- 
pope,  would  induce  him  to  invest  them 
with  full  power.  The  Pope  would 
entrust  to  none  but  to  himself  the  pre- 
rogative of  final  judgment.  Alexander 
mistrusted  the  venality  of  his  cardinals, 
and  Henry's  subsequent  dealing  with 
some  of  them  justified  his  mistrust.^^ 
He  was  himself  inflexible  to  tempting 

82  According  to  Roger  of  Pontigny,  there 

were  some  of  them  "  qui  accepta  a  rege  pecunii 

partes  ejus  fovebant,"  particularly  William  of 

Pavia. — p.  153. 
10 


110 


Thomas  d  JBecket. 


offers.  The  envoys  privately  proposed 
to  extend  the  payment  of  Peter's  Pence 
to  almost  all  classes,  and  to  secure  the 
tax  in  perpetuity  to  the  see  of  Rome. 
The  ambassadors  retreated  in  haste; 
their  commission  had  been  limited  to  a 
few  days.  The  bishops,  so  strong  was 
the  popular  feeling  in  France  for  Beck- 
et,  had  entered  Sens  as  retainers  for  the 
Earl  of  Arundel :  they  received  intima- 
tion that  certain  lawless  knights  in  the 
neighborhood  had  determined  to  way- 
lay and  plunder  these  enemies  of  the 
Church,  and  of  the  saintly  Becket. 

Far  different  was  the  progress  of  the 
exiled  primate.  From  St.  Bertin  he 
was  escorted  by  the  Abbot,  and  by  the 
Bishop  of  Terouenne.  He  entered 
France ;  he  was  met,  as  he  approached 
Soissons,  by  the  King's  brothers,  the 
Archbishop  of  Pheims,  and  a  long  train 
Becket  of  bishops,  abbots,  and  dignita- 
atsens.  ^^-^g  ^£        Church ;  he  entered 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


Ill 


Soissons  at  the  head  of  three  hundred 
horsemen.  The  interview  of  Lonis 
with  Becket  raised  his  admiration  in- 
to passion.  As  the  envoys  of  Henry 
passed  on  one  side  of  the  river,  they 
saw  the  pomp  in  which  the  ally  of 
the  King  of  France,  rather  than  the 
exile  from  England,  was  approaching 
Sens.  The  cardinals,  whether  from 
prudence,  jealousy,  or  other  motives, 
were  cool  in  their  reception  of  Beck- 
et. The  Pope  at  once  granted  the 
honor  of  a  public  audience ;  he  placed 
Becket  on  his  right  hand,  and  would 
not  allow  him  to  rise  to  speak.  Beck- 
et, after  a  skillful  account  of  his  hard 
usage,  spread  out  the  parchment  which 
contained  the  Constitutions  of  Claren- 
don. They  were  read ;  the  whole  Con- 
sistory exclaimed  against  the  violation 
of  ecclesiastical  j^rivileges.  On  further 
examination  the  Pope  acknowledged 
that  six  of  them  were  less  evil  than  the 


112      Thomas  d  Bechet. 


rest ;  on  the  remaining  ten  lie  pro- 
nounced his  unqualified  condemnation. 
He  rebuked  the  weakness  of  Becket  in 
swearing  to  these  articles,  it  is  said, 
with  the  severity  of  a  father,  the  ten- 
derness of  a  mother >^  He  consoled  him 
with  the  assm*ance  that  he  had  atoned 
by  his  sufl:erings  and  his  patience  for 
his  brief  infirmity.  Becket  pm'sued  his 
advantage.  The  next  day,  by  what 
might  seem  to  some  trustful  magnani- 
mity, to  others,  a  skillful  mode  of  get- 
ting rid  of  certain  objections  which  had 
been  raised  concerning  his  election,  he 
tendered  the  resignation  of  his  archie- 
piscopate  to  the  Pope.  Some  of  the 
more  politic,  it  was  said,  more  venal 
cardinals,  entreated  the  Pontifl'  to  put 
1  an  end  at  once  to  this  dangerous  quar- 
!  rel  by  accepting  the  sun-ender.^  But 
!      the  Pontff  (his  own  judgment  being 

■j         83  Herbert  de  Bosliam. 

^  Alani  Vita  (p.  362) ;  and  Alan's  Life  rests 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  113 


supported  among  others  by  tlie  Cardi- 
nal Hyacinth)  restored  to  him  the  archi- 
episcopal  ring,  thus  ratifying  his  pri- 
macy. He  assured  Becket  of  his  pro- 
tection, and  committed  him  to  the  hos- 
pitable care  of  the  Abbot  of  Pontigny, 
a  monastery  about  twelve  leagues  from 
Sens.  "  So  long  have  you  lived  in  ease 
and  opulence,  now  learn  the  lessons  of 
poverty  from  the  poor."^  Yet  Alex- 
ander thought  it  prudent  to*  inhibit  any 
proceedings  of  Becket  against  the  King 
till  the  following  Easter. 

Becket's  emissaries  had  been  present 
during  the  interview  of  Henry's  embas- 

mainly  on  tlie  authority  of  John  of  Salisbury. 
Herbert  de  Bosham  suppresses  this. 

85  The  Abbot  of  Pontigny  was  an  ardent  ad- 
mirer of  Becket.  See  letter  of  the  Bishop  of 
Poitiers,  Bouquet,  p.  214.  Prayers  were  offer- 
ed up  throughout  the  struggle  with  Henry  for 
Becket's  success  at  Pontigny,  Citeaux,  and  Clair- 
vaux. — Giles,  iv.  255. 

10* 


Hi      T  lio  m  as  d  B  ecket . 

sadors  with  tlie  Pope.  Hemy,  no  doubt, 
received  speedy  intelligence  of  these 
proceedings  with  Becket.  He  was  at 
Marlborough  after  a  disastrous  cam- 
Effect  on  Paign  in  "Wales.^'^  He  issued 
King  Henry,  immediate  orders  to  seize  the 
revenues  of  the  Ai-chbishop,  and  pro- 
mulgated a  mandate  to  the  bishops  to 
sequester  the  estates  of  all  the  clergy 
Wrath  of  '^^^^  ^^^^  followed  him  to  France. 
Henry,   jj^  public  prajcrs  for  the 

Primate.  In  the  exasperated  state, 
especially  of  the  monkish  mind,  prayers 
for  Becket  would  easily  slide  into  ana- 
themas against  the  king.  Tlie  payment 
of  Peter's  Pence ^'  to  the  Pope  was 

^  Compare  Lingard.  Becket  on  this  news 
exclaimed,  as  is  said,  His  wise  men  are  become 
fools ;  the  Lord  hath  sent  among  them  a  spirit 
of  giddiness ;  they  have  made  England  to  reel 
to  and  fro  like  a  drunken  man." — Vol.  iii.  p. 
227.  No  doubt,  he  T\-ould  have  it  supposed 
God's  vengeance  for  his  own  wrongs, 

IS  There  are  in  Foliot's  letters  many  curious 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  115 


suspended.  All  correspondence  with 
Becket  was  forbidden.  But  the  resent- 
ment of  Henry  was  not  satisfied.  He 
passed  a  sentence  of  banishment,  and 
ordered  at  once  to  be  driven  from  the 
kingdom  all  the  primate's  kinsmen, 
dependents,  and  friends.  Four  hundred 
persons,  it  is  said,  of  both  sexes,  of  every 
age,  even  infants  at  the  breast  were  in- 
cluded (and  it  was  the  depth  of  winter) 
in  this  relentless  edict.  Every  adult 
was  to  take  an  oath  to  proceed  imme- 

circumstances  about  the  collection  and  trans- 
mission of  Peter's  Pence.  In  Alexander's  pre- 
sent state,  notwithstanding  the  amity  of  the 
King  of  France,  this  source  of  revenue  was  no 
doubt  important. — Epist.  149,  172,  &c.  Alex- 
ander wrote  from  Clermont  to  Foliot  (Jime  8, 
1165)  to  collect  the  tax,  to  do  all  in  his  power 
for  the  recall  of  Becket :  to  Henry,  reprobat- 
ing the  Constitutions;  to  Becket,  urging  pru- 
dence and  circumspection.  This  was  later. 
The  Pope  was  then  on  his  way  to  Italy,  where 
he  might  need  Henry's  gold. 


116      Thomas  d  Beclcet, 

diatelj  to  Becket,  in  order  that  his  ejes 
might  be  shocked,  and  his  heart  wrung 
by  the  miseries  which  he  had  brought 
on  his  family  and  his  friends.  Tliis  order 
was  as  inhumanly  executed,  as  inhu- 
manly enacted.^^  It  was  intrusted  to 
Randulph  de  Broc,  a  fierce  soldier,  the 
bitterest  of  Becket's  personal  enemies. 
It  was  as  impolitic  as  cruel.  The 
monasteries  and  conyents  of  Flanders 
and  of  France  were  thrown  open  to 
the  exiles  with  generous  hospitality. 
Throughout  both  these  countries  was 
spread  a  multitude  of  persons  appealing 
to  the  pity,  to  the  indignation  of  all 
orders  of  the  people,  and  so  deepening 
the  uniyersal  hatred  of  Heury.  The 
enemy  of  the  Church  was  self-conyicted 
of  equal  enmity  to  all  Christianity  of 
heart. 

In  his  seclusion  at  Pontigny  Becket 
seemed  determined  to  compensate  by 
6S  Becket,  Epist.  4,  p.  7. 


Thomas  d  Becliet. 


117 


the  sternest  monastic  discij)line  ^^^^^^ 
for  tliat  deficiency  wliicli  liad  P^^tigny. 
been  alleged  on  liis  election  to  the  arch- 
bishoj)ric.  He  put  on  the  coarse  Cis- 
tercian dress.  He  lived  on  the  hard 
and  scanty  Cistercian  diet.  Outwardly 
he  still  maintained  something  of  his  old 
magnificence  and  the  splendor  of  his 
station.  His  establishment  of  horses 
and  retainers  was  so  costly,  that  his 
sober  friend,  J ohn  of  Salisbury,  remon- 
strated against  the  profuse  expenditure. 
Richer  viands  were  indeed  served  on  a 
table  apart,  ostensibly  for  Becket ;  but 
while  he  himself  was  content  with  the 
pulse  and  gruel  of  the  monks,  those 
meats  and  game  were  given  away  to  the 
beggars.  His  devotions  were  long  and 
secret,  broken  with  perpetual  groans. 
At  night  he  rose  from  the  bed  strewn 
with  rich  coverings,  as  beseeming  an 
archbishop,  and  summoned  his  chap- 
lain to  the  work  of  flagellation.  K'ot 


lis      Thomas  d  Bec'ket. 


satislied  with  this,  he  tore  his  flesh  with 
his  nails,  and  lav  on  the  cold  floor,  with 
a  stone  for  his  pillow.  His  health  suf- 
fered ;  wild  dreams,  so  reports  one  of 
his  attendants,  haunted  his  broken 
slumbers,  of  cardinals  plucking  out  his 
ejes,  fierce  assassins  cleaving  his  ton- 
sured crown. His  studies  were  neither 
suited  to  calm  his  mind,  nor  to  abase 
his  hierarchical  haughtiness.  He  de- 
voted his  time  to  the  canon  law,  of 
which  the  False  Decretals  now  formed 
an  integral  part ;  sacerdotal  fraud  justi- 
fying the  loftiest  sacerdotal  presump- 
tion. John  of  Salisbury  again  inter- 
posed with  friendly  remonstrance.  He 
urged  him  to  withdraw  from  these  un- 
devotional  inquiries ;  he  recommended 
to  him  the  works  of  a  Pope  of  a  differ- 
ent character,  the  Morals  of  Gregory 
the  Great.    He  exhorted  him  to  confer 


S9  Edw.  Grim. 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


119 


with  holj  men  on  books  of  spiritual 
improvement. 

King  Henry  in  tlie  meantime  took  a 
loftier  and  more  menacing  tone  towards 
tke  Pope.  "  It  is  an  nnheard  Negotiations 
of  tiling  that  the  court  of  Rome  Emperor, 
should  support  traitors  against  my 
sovereign  authority  ;  I  have  not  deserv- 
ed such  treatment.^^  I  am  still  more 
indignant  that  the  justice  is  denied  to 
me  which  is  granted  to  the  meanest 
clerk."  In  his  wrath  he  made  over- 
tures to  Reginald,  Archbishop  of 
Cologne,  the  maker,  he  might  be  called, 
of  two  Antipopes,  and  the  minister  of 
the  Emperor,  declaring  that  he  had 
long  sought  an  opportunity  of  falling 
off  from  Alexander,  and  his  perfidious 
cardinals,  who  presumed  to  support 
against  him  the  traitor  Thomas,  late 
Ai-chbishop  of  Canterbury. 

90  Bouquet,  xvi.  256. 


120 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


Tlie  Emperor  met  the  advances  of 
Hemy  with  promptitude,  which  showed 
the  importance  he  attached  to  the  alli- 
ance. Keginald  of  Cologne  was  sent  to 
England  to  propose  a  double  alliance 
with  the  house  of  Swabia,  of  Frederick's 
son,  and  of  Henry  the  Lion,  with  the 
two  daughters  of  Henry  Plantagenet. 
The  Pope  trembled  at  this  threatened 
union  between  the  houses  of  Swabia 
and  England.  At  the  great  diet  held 
Diet  at  Wurtzburg,  Frederick,  as- 

r  d'^^iiS^^'  serted  the  canonical  election 
™santide.  Paschal  HI.,  the  new  Anti- 
pope,  and  declared  in  the  face  of  the 
empire  and  of  all  Christendom,  that  the 
powerful  kingdom  of  England  had  now 
embraced  his  cause,  and  that  the  Eang 
of  France  stood  alone  in  his  support  of 
Alexander.^i    In  his  public  edict  he 

91  The  letters  of  John  of  Salisbury  are  full  of 
aUusions  to  the  proceedings  at  Wurtzburg. — 


Thomas  d  Beclcet.  121 

declared  to  all  Christendom  that  the 
oath  of  fidelity  to  Paschal,  of  denial  of 
all  future  allegiance  to  Alexander,  ad- 
ministered to  all  the  great  princes  and 
prelates  of  the  empire,  had  been  taken 
by  the  ambassadors  of  King  Henry, 
Richard  of  Ilchester,  and  John  of  Ox- 
ford.^^   ]N"or  was  this  all.    A  solemn 

Bouquet,  p.  524.  John  of  Oxford  is  said  to 
have  denied  the  oath  (p.  533) ;  also  Giles,  iv. 
264.  He  is  from  that  time  branded  by  John  of 
Salisbury  as  an  arch  liar. 

S2  John  of  Oxford  was  rewarded  for  this  ser- 
vice by  the  deanery  of  Salisbury,  vacant  by  the 
promotion  of  the  dean  to  the  bishopric  of  Bay- 
eux.  Joscelin,  Bishop  of  Salisbury,  notwith- 
standing the  papal  prohibition  that  no  election 
should  take  place  in  the  absence  of  some  of  the 
canons,  chose  the  safer  course  of  obedience  to 
the  King's  mandate.  This  act  of  Joscelin  was 
deeply  resented  by  Becket.  John  of  Oxford's 
usurpation  of  the  deanery  was  one  of  the  causes 
assigned  for  his  excommunication  at  Yezelay. 
See  also,  on  the  loyal  but  somewhat  unscrupu- 
lous proceedings  of  John  of  Oxford,  the  letter 
H 


122 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


oath  of  abjuration  of  Pope  Alexander 
was  enacted,  and  to  some  extent  enforc- 
ed ;  it  was  to  be  taken  by  every  male 
under  twelve  years  old  throngliont  the 
realm.^3    The  King's  officers  compelled 

(hereafter  referred  to)  of  Nicholas  de  Monte 
Kotomagensi.  It  describes  the  attempt  of  John 
of  Oxford  to  prepossess  the  Empress  Matilda 
against  Becket.  It  likewise  betrays  again  the 
double-dealing  of  the  Bishop  of  Lisieux,  out- 
wardly for  the  King,  secretly  a  partisan  and 
adviser  of  Becket.  On  the  whole,  it  shows  the 
moderation  and  good  sense  of  the  empress,  who 
disapproved  of  some  of  the  Constitutions,  and 
especially  of  their  being  written,  but  speaks 
strongly  of  the  abuses  in  the  Church.  Nicholas 
admires  her  skillfulness  in  defending  her  son.— 
Giles,  iv.  187.    Bouquet,  226. 

93  "Prsecepit  enim  publice  et  compulit  per 
vicos,  per  castella,  per  civitates  ab  homine  sene 
usque  ab  puerum  duodenum  beati  Petri  succes- 
sorem  Alexandrum  abjurare."  William  of  Can 
terbury  alone  of  Becket's  biographers  (Giles,  ii. 
p.  19)  asserts  this,  but  it  is  unanswerably  con- 
firmed by  Becket's  Letter  78,  iii.  p.  192. 


Thomas  a  Bechet. 


123 


this  act  of  obedience  to  the  King,  in 
villages,  in  castles,  in  cities. 

If  tlie  ambassadors  of  Henry  at 
Wurtzburg  liad  full  powers  to  transfer 
the  allegiance  of  the  King  to  the  Anti- 
pope  ;  if  they  took  the  oath  uncondition- 
ally, and  with  no  reserve  in  case  Alex- 
ander should  abandon  the  cause  of 
Becket ;  if  this  oath  of  abjuration  in 
England  was  generally  administered ; 
it  is  clear  that  Henry  soon  changed,  or 
wavered  at  least  in  his  policy.  The 
alliance  between  the  two  houses  came 
to  nothing.  Yet  even  after  this  he  ad- 
dressed a,nother  letter  to  Reginald, 
Archbishop  of  Cologne,  declaring  again 
his  long  cherished  determination  to 
abandon  the  cause  of  Alexander,  the 
supporter  of  his  enemy,  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  He  demanded  safe- 
conduct  for  an  embassy  to  Home,  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, John  of  Oxford,  De  Luci,  the  Jus- 


124 


Thomas  d  Becliet. 


ticiaiy,  peremptorilj  to  require  the 
Pope  to  annul  all  the  acts  of  Thomas, 
and  to  command  the  observance  of  the 
Customs.^*  The  success  of  Alexander  in 
Italy,  aversion  in  England  to  the  abjur- 
ation of  Alexander,  some  unaccounted 
jealousy  with  the  Emperor,  irresolution 
in  Henry,  which  was  part  of  his  impet- 
uous character,  may  have  wrought  this 
change. 

The  monk  and  severe  student  of  Pon- 
tigny  found  rest  neither  in  his  austeri- 
ties nor  his  studies.^^  The  causes  of  this 

94  The  letter  in  Giles  (vi.  279)  is  rather  per- 
plexing. It  is  placed  by  Bouquet,  agreeing  with 
Baronius,  in  1166  ;  by  Von  Raumer  (Geschichte 
der  Hohenstauffen,  ii.  p.  192)  in  1165,  before 
the  Diet  of  Wurtzburg.  This  cannot  be  right, 
as  the  letter  implies  that  Alexander  was  in 
Eome,  where  he  arrived  not  before  ISTov.  1165. 
The  embassy,  though  it  seems  that  the  Emperor 
granted  the  safe-conduct,  did  not  take  place,  at 
least  as  regards  some  of  the  ambassadors. 

95  "  Itaque  per  biennium  ferme  stetit."  So 


Thomas  d  BecTcet. 


125 


enforced  repose  are  manifest — the  nego- 
tiations between  Henrj  and  the  Empe- 
ror, the  "uncertainty  of  the  success  of 
the  Pope  on  his  return  to  Italy.  It 
would  have  been  perilous  policy,  either 
for  him  to  risk,  or  for  the  Pope  not  to 
inhibit  any  rash  measure. 

In  the  second  year  of  his  seclusion, 
when  he  found  that  the  Ejng's  heart 
was  still  hardened,  the  fire,  not,  we  are 
assured  by  his  followers,  of  resentment, 
but  of  parental  love,  not  zeal  for  ven- 
geance but  for  justice,  burned  within 
his  soul.  Henry  was  at  this  Becketcitea 
time  in  France.  Three  times 
the  exile  cited  his  sovereign  with  the 
tone  of  a  superior  to  submit  to  his  cen- 
sure. Becket  had  communicated  his 
design  to  his  followers : — "  Let  us  act 
as  the  Lord  commanded  his  steward 

writes  Roger  of  Pontigny.    It  is  difficult  to 
make  ont  so  long  a  time. — p.  154. 
96  Herbert  de  Bosham.— p.  226. 
11* 


326 


Thomas  d  JBecket. 


'  See,  I  have  set  thee  over  the  nations, 
and  over  the  kingdoms,  to  root  ont  and 
to  pull  down,  and  to  destroy,  and  to 
hew  down,  to  build  and  to  plant.' "^'^ 
All  his  hearers  applauded  his  righteous 
resolution.  In  the  first  message  the 
haughty  meaning  was  veiled  in  the 
blandest  words,^^  and  sent  by  a  Cister- 
cian of  gentle  demeanor,  named  Ur- 
ban.^'' The  King  returned  a  short  and 
bitter  answer.  The  second  time  Becket 
wrote  in  severer  language,  but  yet  in 
the  spirit,  't  is  said,  of  compassion  and 
leniency.^'^^  The  Ejng  deigned  no  reply. 
His  third  messenger  was  a  tattered, 
barefoot  friar.  To  him  Becket,  it  might 
seem,  with  studied  insult,  not  only  in- 

97  Jer.  i.  10. 

98  "  Suavissimas  literas,  snpplicationem  solam, 
correptionem  vero  nnllam  vel  modicam  conti- 
nentes." — De  Bosham. 

99  Urbane  by  disposition  as  by  name. — Ibid. 

100  Giles,  iii.  365.    Bouquet,  p.  243. 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  127 

trusted  his  letter  to  the  King,  but  au- 
thorized the  friar  to  speak  in  his  name. 
With  such  a  messenger  the  message 
was  not  likely  to  lose  in  asperity.  The 
King  returned  an  answer  even  more 
contemptuous  than  the  address.^ 

But  this  secret  arraignment  of  the 
King  did  not  content  the  unquiet  pre- 
late. He  could  now  dare  Nov.  ii,  iies. 
more,  unrestrained,  unrebuked.  Pope 
Alexander  had  been  received  at  Eome 
with  open  arms :  at  the  commencement 
of  the  present  year  all  seemed  to  favor 
his  cause.  The  Emperor,  detained  by 
wars  in  Germany,  was  not- prepared  to 
cross  the  Alps.  In  the  free  cities  of 
Italy,  the  anti-imperialist  feeling,  and 
the  growing  republicanism,  gladly  en- 
tered into  close  confederacy  with  a  Pope 
at  war  with  the  Emperor.    The  Pontiff 

1  "  Quin  potius  dura  propinantes,  dura  pro 
duris,  immo  multo  plus  duriora  prioribus,  repor- 
taverunt." — ^De  Bosham. 


12S 


Tho  in  as  d  B  ec'ket , 


(secretly  it  sliould  seem,  it  might  be 
in  defiance  or  in  revenge  for  Henry's 
threatened  revolt  and  for  the  acts  of  his 
ambassadors  at  Wurtzburg-)  ventured 
to  grant  to  Becket  a  legatine  power 
over  the  King's  English  dominions, 
except  the  province  of  York.  Though 
it  Avas  not  in  the  power  of  Becket  to 
enter  those  dominions,  it  armed  him, 
as  it  was  thought,  with  unquestion- 

2  The  Pope  Lad  written  (Jan.  28)  to  the 
bishops  of  England  not  to  presume  to  act  with- 
out the  consent  of  Thomas,  Arclibishop  of  Can- 
terbury. April  5,  he  forbade  Pwoger  of  York 
and  the  other  prelates  to  crown  the  King's  son. 
May  3,  he  writes  to  Foliot  and  the  bishops  who 
had  received  benefices  of  the  King  to  surren- 
der them  under  pain  of  anathema ;  to  Becket  in 
favor  of  Joscelin,  Bishop  of  Salisbury :  he  had 
annulled  the  grant  of  the  deanery  of  Salisbury 
to  John  of  Oxford.  May  10,  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Rouen,  denouncing  the  dealings  of  Henry 
with  the  Emperor  and  the  Antipope. — Giles,  iv. 
10  a  80.    Bouquet,  246. 


Thomas  a  BecJcet. 


129 


able  authority  over  Henrv  and  his 
subjects.  At  all  events  it  annulled 
whatever  restraint  the  Pope,  by  coun- 
sel or  by  mandate,  had  placed  on  the 
proceedings  of  Becket.^  The  Arch- 
bishop took  his  determination  alone.* 
As  though  to  throw  an  awful  mystery 
about  his  plan,  he  called  his  wise  friends 
together,  and  consulted  them  *on  the 
propriety  of  resigning  his  see.  With 

3  The  inlaibition  given  at  Sens  to  proceed 
against  the  King,  before  the  Easter  of  the  follow- 
ing year  (a.  d.  1166),  had  now  expired.  More- 
over he  had  a  direct  commission  to  proceed  by 
Commination  against  those  who  forcibly*  with- 
held the  property  of  the  see  of  Canterbury. — 
Apud  Giles,  iv.  8.  Bouquet,  xvi.  844.  At  the 
same  time  the  Pope  urged  great  discretion  as  to 
the  King's  person.  Giles,  iv.  12.  Bouquet,  244. 

4  At  the  same  time  Becket  wrote  to  Foliot 
of  London,  commanding  him  under  penalty  of 
excommunication  to  transmit  to  him  the  se- 
questered revenues  of  Canterbury  in  his  hands. 
— Foliot  appealed  to  the  Pope. — Foliot's  Letter. 
Giles,  vi.  5.    Bouquet,  215. 


130 


Thomas  d  JSecJcet. 


one  voice  tliej  rejected  the  timid  coun- 
sel. Yet  tliougli  Ms  most  intimate  fol- 
lowers were  in  ignorance  of  his  designs, 
some  intelligence  of  a  meditated  blow 
was  betrayed  to  Henry.  The  Ejng 
summoned  an  assembly  of  prelates  at 
Cliinon.  The  Bishops  of  Lisieux  and 
Seez,  whom  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen, 
Rotran,  consented  to  accompany  as  a 
mediator,  were  dispatched  to  Pontigny, 
to  anticipate  by  an  appeal  to  the  Pope, 
any  sentence  which  might  be  pronounced 
by  Becket.  They  did  not  find  him  there : 
he  li^d  already  gone  to  Soissons,  on  the 
pretext  of  a  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine 
of  St.  Drausus,  a  saint  whose  interces- 
sion rendered  the  warrior  invincible  in 
battle.  Did  Becket  hope  thus  to  secure 
victory  in  the  great  spiritual  combat  ? 
One  whole  night  he  passed  before  the 
shrine  of  St.  Drausus;  another  before 
that  of  Gregory  the  Great,  the  founder 
of  the  English  Church,  and  of  the  see 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


131 


of  Canterbury ;  and  a  third  before  that 
of  the  Virgin,  his  especial  patroness. 

From  thence  he  proceeded  to  the  an- 
cient and  famons  monastery  of  Yeze- 
lay.5  The  chnrch  of  Yezelay,  if  Bucket  at 
the  dismal  decorations  of  the  ^^^^^^y- 
architecture  are  (which  is  doubtful) 
of  that  period,  might  seem  designated 

5  The  curious  History  of  the  Monastery  of  Yeze- 
lay,  by  Hugh  of  Poitiers  (translated  in  Guizot, 
Collection  des  Memoires),  though  it  twice  men- 
tions Becket,  stops  just  short  of  this  excommu- 
nication, 1166.  Vezelay  boasted  to  be  subject 
only  to  the  See  of  Rome,  to  have  been  made  by 
its  founder  part  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter. 
This  was  one  great  distinction :  the  other  was 
the  unquestioned  possession  of  the  body  of  St. 
Mary  Magdalene,  "I'amie  de  Dieu."  Yezelay 
had  been  in  constant  strife  with  the  Bishop  of 
Autun  for  its  ecclesiastical,  with  the  Count  of 
Nevers  for  its  territorial,  independence;  with 
the  monastery  of  Clugny,  as  its  rival.  This  is 
a  document  very  instructive  as  to  the  life  of  the 
age. 


132 


Thomas  d  BecTcet. 


for  that  fearful  ceremony.^   There,  on 

6  A  modern  traveller  thns  writes  of  the 
clinrcli  of  Vezelaj:  "  On  voit  par  le  clioix  des 
snjets  qui  ont  un  sens,  quel  etait  Tesprit  du 
temps  et  la  maniere  d'interpreter  la  religion. 
Ce  n'etait  pas  par  la  douceur  ou  la  persuasion 
qu'on  voulait  convertir,  mais  bien  par  la  terreur. 
Les  discours  des  pretres  pourraient  se  resumer 
en  ce  jjeu  de  mots :  '  Croyez,  ou  sinon  vous  pe- 
rissez  miserablement,  et  vous  serez  eternellement 
tourmentes  dans  Tautre  monde!'  De  leur  cote 
les  artistes,  gens  religieux,  ecclesiastiques  meme 
pour  la  plupart,  donnaient  une  forme  reelle  aux 
sombres  images  que  leur  inspirait  un  zele  fa- 
rouche. Je  ne  trouve  a  Yezelaj  aucun  de  ces 
snjets  que  les  ames  tendres  aimeraient  a  retracer, 
tels  que  le  pardon  accorde  au  repentir,  la  re- 
compense du  juste,  &c.;  mais  au  contraire,  je 
vois  Samuel  egorgeant  Agag ;  des  diables  ecar- 
telent  des  damnes.  ou  les  entrainant  dans  Tabime ; 
puis  des  animaux  horribles,  des  monstres  hideux, 
des  tetes  grimacantes  exprimant  ou  les  sul&ances 
des  reprouves,  ou  la  joie  des  habitans  de  I'enfer. 
Qu'on  se  represente  la  devotion  des  hommes 
eleves  au  milieu  de  ces  images,  et  Ton  s'etonnera 
moins  des  massacres  des  Albigeois." — iJ'otesd'un 


Thomas  d  Bechet,  133 


the  feast  of  the  Ascension,'^  when  the 
church  was  crowded  with  worshippers 
from  all  quarters,  he  ascended  the  pul- 
pit, and  with  the  utmost  solemnity,  con- 
demned and  annulled  the  Constitutions 
of  Clarendon,  declared  excommunicate 
all  who  observed  or  enforced  their  ob- 
servance, all  who  had  counseled,  and 
all  who  had  defended  them ;  absolved 
all  the  bishops  from  the  oaths  which 
they  had  taken  to  maintain  them.  This 
sweeping  anathema  involved  the  whole 

Voyage  dans  le  Midi  de  la  France,  par  Prosper 
Merimee,  p.  43. 

Diceto  gives  the  date  Ascension  Day,  Her- 
bert de  Bosham  St.  Mary  Magdalene's  Day 
(July  22 d).  It  should  seem  that  De  Bosham's 
memory  failed  him.  See  the  letter  of  Mcolas 
de  M.  Rotomagensi,  who  speaks  of  the  excom- 
munication as  past,  and  that  Becket  was  ex- 
pected to  excommunicate  the  King  on  St.  Mary 
Magdalene's  Day.  This,  if  done  at  Vezelay  (as 
it  were,  over  the  body  of  the  Saint,  on  her  sa- 
cred day),  had  been  tenfold  more  awful. 
12 


134      Thomas  d  Bechet. 


kingdom.  But  he  proceeded  to  excom- 
mnnicate  by  name  the  most  active  and 
j)Owerful  adversaries  :  John  of  Oxford, 
for  his  dealings  with  the  schismatic 
partisans  of  the  Emperor  and  of  the 
Antipope,  and  for  his  usurpation  of  the 
deanery  of  Salisbury;  Eichard  of  II- 
chester  Archdeacon  of  Poitiers,  the  col- 
league of  John  in  his  negotiations  at 
Wurtzburg  (thus  the  cause  of  Becket 
and  Pope  Alexander  were  indissolubly 
welded  together) ;  the  great  Justiciary, 
Richard  de  Luci,  and  John  of  Baliol,  the 
authors  of  the  Constitutions  of  Claren- 
don ;  Eandulph  de  Broc,  Hugo  de  Clare, 
and  others,  for  their  forcible  usurpation 
of  the  estates  of  the  see  of  Canterbury. 
He  yet  in  his  mercy  spared  the  King 
(he  had  received  intelligence  that  Henry 
was  dangerously  ill),  and  in  a  lower 
tone,  his  voice,  as  it  seemed,  half  choked 
with  tears,  he  uttered  his  Commination. 
The  whole  congregation,  even  his  own 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


135 


intimate  followers,  were  silent  with 
amazement. 

This  sentence  of  excommunication 
Becket  announced  to  the  Pope,  and  to 
all  the  clergy  of  England.  To  the  latter 
he  said,  "  Who  presumes  to  doubt  that 
the  priests  of  God  are  the  fathei's  and 
masters  of  kings,  princes,  and  all  the 
faithful?"  He  commanded  Gilbert, 
Bishop  of  London,  and  his  other  suffra- 
gans, to  publish  this  edict  throughout 
their  dioceses.  lie  did  not  confine  him- 
self to  the  bishops  of  England ;  the  Xor- 
man  prelates,  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen, 
were  expressly  warned  to  withdraw  from 
all  communion  with  the  excommuni- 
cate.^ 

8  See  the  curious  letter  of  Xicolas  de  Monte 
Rotomagensi,  Giles  iv.,  Bouquet,  250.  This 
measure  of  Becket  was  imputed  by  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rheims  to  pride  or  anger  ("extoUen- 
tisB  aut  irsB  ") :  it  made  an  unfavorable  impres- 
sion on  the  Empress  Matilda. — Ibid. 


136 


Thomas  a  ^eclcet. 


The  wratli  of  Henry  drove  him  almost 
Anger  of  ^o  madiiess.  JSTo  one  dared  to 
the  King,  jjg^jj^^g  Becket  in  his  presence.^ 
Soon  after,  on  the  occasion  of  some  dis- 
cussion about  the  King  of  Scotland,  he 
burst  into  a  fit  of  passion,  threw  away 
his  cap,  ungirt  his  belt,  stripped  off  his 
clothes,  tore  the  silken  coverlid  from 
his  bed,  and  crouched  down  on  the 
straw,  gnawing  bits  of  it  with  his 
teeth.^^  Proclamation  was  issued  to 
guard  the  ports  of  England  against  the 
threatened  interdict.  Any  one  who 
should  be  apprehended  as  the  bearer 
of  such  an  instrument,  if  a  regular,  was 
to  lose  his  feet ;  if  a  clerk,  his  eyes,  and 
sufi'er  more  shameful  mutilation ;  a  lay- 
man was  to  be  hanged ;  a  leper  to  be 
burned.  A  bishop  who  left  the  king- 
dom, for  fear  of  the  interdict,  was  to 
carry  nothing  with  him  but  his  stafi*. 

9  Epist.  Giles,  iv.  185 ;  Bouquet,  258. 

10  Epist.  Giles,  iv.  260 ;  Bouquet,  256. 


Thomas  d  Bec'ket.  137 


All  exiles  were  to  return  on  pain  of 
losing  their  benefices.  Priests  who  re- 
fused to  cliant  the  service  were  to  be 
mutilated,  and  all  rebels  to  forfeit  their 

lands.    An  oath  was  to  be  adminis-  j 

tered  by  the  sherifiB  to  all  adults,  that  | 

they  would  respect  no  ecclesiastical  | 

censure  from  the  Archbishop.  | 

A  second  time  Henry's  ungovernable  i 
passion  betrayed  him  into  a  step  which, 

instead  of  lowering,  only  placed  his  i 

antagonist  in  a  more  formidable  posi-  I 

tion.    He  determined  to  drive  him  from  | 

his  retreat  at  Pontigny.    He  sent  word  ! 

to  the  general  of  the  Cistercian  Becket  | 

order  that  it  was  at  their  peril,  Pontigny.  ! 

if  they  harbored  a  traitor  to  his  throne.  i 

The  Cistercians  possessed  many  rich  | 

abbeys  in  England;  they  dared  not  | 

defy  at  once  the  King's  resentment  j 

and  rapacity.    It  was  intimated  to  the  j 
Abbot  of  Pontigny,  that  he  must  dis- 
miss his  guest.    The  Abbot  courteously 

12*  I 


138 


Thomas  d  Becket, 


communicated  to  Becket  the  danger 
incnn-ed  by  the  Order.  He  could  not 
but  withdraw  ;  but  instead  now  of  lurk- 
ing in  a  remote  monastery,  in  some 
degree  secluded  from  the  public  gaze, 
he  was  received  in  the  archiepiscopal 
city  of  Sens ;  his  honorable  residence 
was  prepared  in  a  monastery  close  to 
the  city  ;  he  lived  in  ostentatious 
communication  with  the  Archbishop 
William,  one  of  his  most  zealous  parti- 
sans.^^ 

But  the  fury  of  haughtiness  in  Becket 
equaled  the  fury  of  resentment  in  the 
King :  yet  it  was  not  without  subtlety. 
Just  before  the  scene  at  Yezelay,  it  has 
been  said,  the  King  had  sent  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Houen  and  the  Bishop  of 
Lisieux  to  Pontigny,  to  lodge  his  appeal 
to  the  Pope.  Becket,  duly  informed 
by  his  emissaries  at  the  court,  had  taken 
care  to  be  absent.    He  eluded  likewise 

11  Herbert  de  Bosham,  p.  232. 


Thomas  d  BecTcet, 


139 


the  personal  service  of  the  appeal  of  the 
English  clergy.  An  active  and  violent 
correspondence  ensued.  The  remon- 
strance, purporting:  to  be  from  controversy 

1       -r»  .  ,  ^  1  '^'^^^  EngUsh 

the  rrimate  s  suiiragans  and  ciergy. 
the  whole  clergy  of  England,  was  not 
without  dignified  calmness.  With 
covert  irony,  indeed,  they  said  that  they 
had  derived  great  consolation  from  the 
hope  that,  when  abroad,  he  would  cease 
to  rebel  against  the  King  and  the  peace 
of  the  realm ;  that  he  would  devote  his 
days  to  study  and  prayer,  and  redeem 
his  lost  time  by  fasting,  watching,  and 
weeping ;  they  reproached  him  with 
the  former  favors  of  the  King,  with  the 
design  of  estranging  the  King  from 
Pope  Alexander ;  they  asserted  the 
readiness  of  the  King  to  do  full  justice, 
and  concluded  by  lodging  an  apj^eal 
until  the  Ascension-day  of  the  follow- 
ing year.i2  Eoliot  was  no  doubt  the 
12  Epist.  Giles,  vi.  158  ;  Bouquet,  259. 


140 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


autlior  of  tins  remonstrance,  and  be- 
tween tlie  Primate  and  the  Bishop  of 
London  broke  ont  a  fierce  warfare  of 
letters.  With  Foliot  Becket  kept  no 
terms.  "  You  complain  that  the  Bishop 
of  Salisbury  has  been  excommunicated, 
without  citation,  without  hearing,  with- 
out judgment.  Remember  the  fate  ol 
Ucalegon.  He  trembled  when  his 
neighbor's  house  was  on  fire."  To 
Foliot  he  asserted  the  j^re-eminence,  the 
supremacy,  the  divinity  of  the  sjDiritual 
power  without  reserve.  Let  not  your 
liege  lord  be  ashamed  to  defer  to  those 
to  whom  God  himself  defers,  and  calls 
them  'Gods.' Foliot  replied  with 

13  "Non  indignetur  itaque  Dominus  noster 
deferre  illis,  quibus  summus  omnium  deferre 
non  dedignatur,  Deos  appellans  eos  ssepius  in 
sacris  Uteris.  Sic  enim  dixit,  'Ego  dixit,  Dii 
estis,'  et  '  Constituti  te  Deum  Pharaonis,'  et 
'  Deis  non  detrahere.' " — Epist.  Giles,  iii.  p.  287 ; 
Bouquet,  2G1. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


141 


what  may  be  received  as  the  manifesto 
of  his  party,  and  as  the  manifesto  of  a 
party  to  be  received  with  some  mistrust, 
yet  singularly  curious,  as  showing  the 
tone  of  defence  taken  by  the  opponents^ 
of  the  Primate  among  the  English 
clergy.^-^ 

The  address  of  the  English  prelates  to 
Pope  Alexander  was  more  moderate, 
and  drawn  with  great  ability.  It  as- 
serted the  justice,  the  obedience  to  the 
Church,  the  great  virtue  and  (a  bold 
assertion !)  the  conjugal  fidelity  of  the 
King.  The  King  had  at  once  obeyed 
the  citation  of  the  Bishops  of  London 
and  Salisbury,  concerning  some  en- 
croachments on  the  Church  condemned 
by  the  Pope.  The  sole  design  of  Henry 
had  been  to  promote  good  morals,  and 

14  Foliot  took  the  precaution  of  paying  into 
the  exchequer  all  that  he  had  received  from  the 
sequestered  property  of  the  see  of  Canterbury. 
— Giles,  V.  p.  2G5.    Lyttelton  in  Appendice. 


142 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


to  maintaiu  the  peace  of  the  realm. 
That  peace  had  been  restored.  All 
resentments  had  died  a  way,  when 
Eecket  fiercely  recommenced  the  strife  ; 
in  sad  and  terrible  letters  had  threaten- 
ed the  King  with  excommunication,  the 
realm  with  interdict.  He  had  suspend- 
ed the  Bishop  of  Salisbury  without  trial. 
"  This  was  the  whole  of  the  cruelty, 
perversity,  malignity  of  the  King 
against  the  Church,  declaimed  on  and 
bruited  abroad  throughout  the  world."^^ 
The  indefatigable  John  of  Oxford  was 
in  Eome,  perhaps  the  bearer  of  this  ad- 
dress. Becket  wrote  to  the  Pope,  insist- 
ing on  all  the  cruelties  of  the  King ;  he 
John  of  calls  him  a  malignant  tyrant,  one 
atRome.  fulf  of  all  malicc.  lie  dwelt 
especially  on  the  imprisonment  of  one 

15  "  HsBC  est  Domini  regis  toto  orbe  declamata 
crndelitas,  hrec  ab  eo  perseciitio,  ha?c  opcrum 
ejus  perversornm  niinusculis  undique  divulgata 
malignitas.'' — Giles,  vi.  190  ;  Bouquet,  265. 


Thomas  d  Becket.  143 

of  his  cliaplains,  for  which  violation  of 
the  sacred  person  of  a  clerk,  the  King 
was  ipso  facto  excommnnic  ate.  "  Christ 
was  crncified  anew  in  Becket."^^  He 
complained  of  the  presumption  of  Foliot, 
who  had  usurped  the  power  of  pri- 
mate ;  TVarned  the  Pope  against  the 
wiles  of  John  of  Oxford ;  deprecated  the 
legatine  mission,  of  which  he  had  alrea- 
dy heard  a  rumor,  of  "William  of  Pavia. 
And  all  these  letters,  so  unsparing  to 
the  King,  or  copies  of  them,  probably 
bought  out  of  the  Roman  chancery, 
were  regularly  transmitted  to  the  King. 

16  Giles,  iii.  6 ;  Bouquet,  266.  Compare  let- 
ter of  Bishop  Elect  of  Chartres. — Giles,  vi.  211  • 
Bouquet,  269. 

i^Foliot  obtained  letters  either  at  this  time  or 
somewhat  later  from  his  own  Chapter  of  St. 
Paul,  from  many  of  the  greatest  dignitaries  of 
the  English  Church,  the  abbots  of  Westminster 
and  Reading,  and  from  some  distinguished 
foreign  ecclesiastics,  in  favor  of  himself,  his 
pietj,  churchmanship,  and  impartiality. 


14:4:      Th  0  111  as  d  Bee  Jc  e  t . 


Jolin  of  Oxford  began  liis  mission  at 
Eome  by  s^-earing  undauntedly,  that 
nothing  had  been  done  at  ^urtzburg 
against  the  power  of  the  Church  or  the 
interests  of  Pope  Alexander.^^  He  sur- 
rendered his  deanery  of  Salisbury  into 

IS  The  German  acconnt?  are  nnanimons  about 
the  proceedings  at  "Wurtzburg  and  the  oath  of 
the  English  ambassadors.  See  the  account  in 
Yon  Ranmer  {he.  cit.),  especially  of  the  conduct 
of  Reginald  of  Cologne,  and  the  authorities. 
John  of  Oxford  is  henceforth  called,  in  John  of 
Salisbury's  letters,  jurator.  Becket  repeatedly 
charges  him  with  perjury. — Giles,  iii.  p.  129  and 
351 ;  Bouquet,  280.  Becket  there  says  that 
John  of  Oxford  had  given  up  part  of  the  "  cus- 
toms." He  begs  John  of  Poitiers  to  let  the  King 
know  this.  See  the  very  curious  answer  of 
John  of  Poitiers. — Giles,  vi.  251 ;  Bouquet,  280. 
It  appears  that  as  all  Becket's  letters  to  the 
Pope  were  copied  and  transmitted  from  Rome 
to  Henry,  so  John  of  Poitiers,  outwardly  the 
King's  loyal  subject,  is  the  secret  spy  of  Becket. 
He  speaks  of  those  in  England  who  thirst  after 
Becket's  blood. 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  145 


tlie  hands  of  the  Pope,  and  received  it  | 
back  again.^^     John  of  Oxford  was 
armed  with  more  powerful  weapons 
than  perjury  or  submission,  and  the 
times  now  favored  the  use  of  these  more 
irresistible  arms.    The  Emperor  Frede- 
rick was  levying,  if  he  had  not  already 
set  in  motion,  that  mighty  army  which 
swept,  during  the  next  year,  through  j 
Italy,  made  him  master  of  Eome,  and  ! 
witnessed  his  coronation  and  the  en- 
thronement of  the  Antipope.-^  Henry 
had  now,  notwithstanding  his  suspicious 
— more  than  suspicious — dealings  with  \ 
the  Emperor,  returned  to  his  allegi-  ' 
ance  to  Alexander.'    Yast  sums  of  Eng- 

19  The  Pope  ackno-wledges  that  this  was  ex- 
torted from  him  by  fear  of  Hem-y,  and  makes 
an  awkward  apology  to  Becket. — Giles,  iv.  18 ; 
Bouquet,  309. 

20  He  was  crowned  in  Rome  August  1.  Com- 
pare next  chapter  —  Sismondi,  Republiques, 
Italiennes,  ii.  ch.  x. ;  YonRaumer,  ii.  p.  209,  &c. 


146      Thomas  d  Becket. 

lisli  money  were  from  tliis  time  expend- 
ed in  strengthening  tlie  cause  of  the 
Pope.  The  Guelfic  cities  of  Italy  re- 
ceived them  with  greedy  hands.  By 
the  gold  of  the  King  of  England,  and  of 
the  King  of  Sicily,  the  Frangipani  and 
the  family  of  Peter  Leonis  were  retain- 
ed in  their  fidelity  to  the  Pope.  Becket, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  powerful  friends 
in  Pome,  especially  the  Cardinal  Hya- 
cinth, to  whom  he  writes,  that  Henry 
had  boasted  that  in  Pome  everything 
Dec.  1166.  was  vcnal.  It  was,  however, 
not  till  a  second  embassy  arrived,  con- 
sisting of  John  Cummin  and  Palph 
of  Tamworth,  that  Alexander  made 
his  great  concession,  the  sign  that  he 
was  not  yet  extricated  from  his  distress. 
He  appointed  William  of  Pavia,  and 
Otho,  Cardinal  of  St.  Nicholas,  his 
legates  in  France,  to  decide  the  cause.^^ 

21  Giles,  iii.  128;  Bouquet,  272.  Compare 
Letters  to  Cardinals  Boso  and  Henrj. — Giles, 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


147 


Meantime  all  Becket's  acts  were  sus- 
pended by  the  papal  autliority.  At  the 
same  time  the  Pope  wrote  to  Becket, 
entreating  him  at  this  perilous  time  of 
the  Church  to  make  all  possible  conces- 
sions, and  to  dissemble,  if  necessary,  for 
the  present.22 

K  John  of  Oxford  boasted  premature- 
ly of  his  triumph  (on  his  return  to  Eng- 
land* he  took  ostentatious  possession  of 
his  deanery  of  Salisbury  2^),  and  predict- 
ed the  utter  ruin  of  Becket,  his  friends, 

iii.  103,  113 ;  Bouquet,  174.  Letter  to  Henry 
announcing  the  appointment,  December  20. 

22  "  Si  non  omnia  secundum  beneplacitum 
succedant,  ad  praesens  dissimulet. — Giles,  vi.  15 ; 
Bouquet,  277. 

23  See  the  curious  letter  of  Master  Lombard, 
Becket's  instructor  in  the  canon  law,  who  boldlj 
remonstrates  with  the  Pope.  He  asserts  that 
Henry  was  so  frightened  at  the  menace  of  ex- 
communication, his  subjects,  even  the  bishops, 
at  that  of  his  interdict,  that  they  were  in  des- 
pair.   Their  only  hope  was  in  the  death  or  some 


148 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


especially  tlie  King  of  France,-^  were 
ill  utter  dismay  at  this  change  in  the 
l^apal  policy.  John,  as  Becket  had 
heard  (and  his  emissaries  were  eyery- 
where),  on  his  landing  in  England,  had 
met  the  Bishop  of  Hereford  (one  of  the 
wayering  bishops),  prepared  to  cross  the 
sea  in  obedience  to  Becket's  citation. 
To  him,  after  some  delay,  John  had  ex- 
hibited letters  of  the  Pope,  which  sent 
him  back  to  his  diocese.  On  the  sight 
of  these  same  letters,  the  Bishop  of 
London  had  exclaimed  in  the  fullness 
of  his  joy,  "Then  om-  Thomas  is  no 
longer  archbishop  ! "  '*  If  this  be  true,*' 
adds  Becket,  "the  Pope  has  giyen  a 
death-blow  to  the  Chm-ch."-^    To  the 

great  disaster  of  the  Pope. — Giles,  iv.  208; 
Bonquet,  282. 

^  See  Letters  of  Louis  ;  Giles,  iv.  308  ;  Bon- 
quet, 287. 

25  "  Strangulavit,"  a  favorite  word. — Giles, 
iii.  214 ;  Bouquet,  284. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


149 


Arclibishop  of  Mentz,  for  in  the  empire 
he  had  his  ardent  admirers,  he  poured 
forth  all  the  bitterness  of  his  sonl.^^  Of 
the  two  cardinals  he  writes,  "  The  one 
is  weak  and  versatile,  the  other  treacher- 
ous and  crafty."  He  looked  to  their 
arrival  with  indignant  apprehension. 
Tliey  are  open  to  bribes,  and  may  be 
perverted  to  any  injustice.^^ 

26  Giles,  iii.  235 ;  Bouquet,  285. 

2T  Compare  Jolin  of  Salisbury,  p.  539.  "  Scrip- 
sit  autem  rex  Domino  Coloniensis,  Henricum 
Pisanum  et  Willelmum  Papiensem  in  Franciam 
venturos  ad  novas  exactiones  faciendas,  ut 
undique  conradant  et  contrahant,  unde  Papa 
Alexander  in  urbe  sustentetur ;  alter,  ut  nostis, 
levis  est  et  mutabilis,  alter  dolosus  et  fraudulen- 
tus,  uterque  cupidus  et  avarus :  et  ideo  de  facili 
munera  ccenabunt  eos  et  ad  omnem  injustitiam 
incurvabunt.  Audito  eorum  detestando  adventu 
formidare  Ciepi  prsesentiam  eorum  causse  vestras 
multum  nocituram  ;  et  ne  vestro  et  vestrorum 
sanguine-  gratiam  Regis  Anglise  redimere  non 
erubescant."  He  refers  with  great  joy  to  the 
insurrection  of  the  Saxons  against  the  Emperor. 


150 


Thorn  as  d  Beclcet. 


John  of  Oxford  had  proclaimed  that 
the  cardinals,  William  of  Pavia,  and 
Otho,  were  invested  in  full  powers  to 
pass  judgment  between  the  King  and 
the  Primate.2s  But  whether  John  of 
Oxford  had  mistaken  or  exaggerated 
their  powers,  or  the  Pope  (no  impro- 
bable case,  considering  the  change  of 
affairs  in  Italy)  had  thought  fit  after- 
wards to  modify  or  retract  them,  they 
came  rather  as  mediators  than  judges, 
with  orders  to  reconcile  the  contending 
parties,  rather  than  to  decide  on  their 
cause.  Tlie  cardinals  did  not  arrive  in 
France  till  the  autumn  of  the  year.^^ 

He  says  elsewhere  of  Henry  of  Pisa,  "  Vir  bonse 
opinionis  est,  sed  Eomanus  et  Cardinalis." — 
Epist.  cc.  ii. 

28  The  English  bishops  declare  to  the  Pope 
himself  that  they  had  received  this  concession, 
scripto  forjnatum,  from  the  Pope,  and  that  the 
King  was  furious  at  what  he  thought  a  decep- 
tion.—Giles,  vi.  194;  Bouquet,  304. 

29  The  Pope  wrote  to  the  legates  to  soothe 


Thomas  d  Bec'ket.  151 


Even  before  their  arrival,  first  rumors, 
tlien  more  certain  intelligence  had  been 
propagated  througliout  Christendom  of 
the  terrible  disaster  which  had  befallen 
theEmperor.  Barbarossa's  career  of  ven- 
geance and  conquest  had  been  a.  d.  iier. 

1  rm       -r»  •  ^"ii^^f.  of 

cut  short,  ihe  rope  a  prisoner,  Frederick, 
a  fugitive,  was  unexpectedly  released, 
restored  to  power,  if  not  to  the  posses- 
sion of  Eome.^*^  The  climate  of  Kome, 
as  usual,  but  in  a  far  more  fearful  man- 

Becket  and  the  King  of  France;  he  accuses 
John  of  Oxford  of  spreading  false  reports  about 
the  extent  of  their  commission ;  John  Cummin 
of  betraying  his  letters  to  the  Antipope. — Giles, 
vl.  54. 

80  So  completely  does  Becket's  fortune  follow 
that  of  the  Pope,  that  on  June  17  Alexander 
writes  to  permit  Roger  of  York  to  crown  the 
King's  son ;  no-  sooner  is  he  safe  in  Benevento, 
August  22  (perhaps  the  fever  had  begun),  than 
he  writes  to  his  legates  to  confirm  the  excom- 
communications  of  Becket,  which  he  had  sus- 
pended. 


152      Thomas  d  BecTiet. 


ner,  liad  resented  the  invasion  of  the 
city  by  the  German  aiTny.  A  pesti- 
lence had  broken  out,  which  in  less 
than  a  month  made  such  havoc  among 
the  soldiers,  that  they  could  scarcely 
find  room  to  bury  the  dead.  Tlie  fever 
seemed  to  choose  its  victims  among  the 
higher  clergy,  the  partisans  of  the  Anti- 
pope  ;  of  the  princes  and  nobles,  the 
chief  victims  were  the  younger  Duke 
Guelf,  Duke  Frederick  of  Swabia,  and 
some  others ;  of  the  bishojDs,  those  of 
Prague,  Ratisbon,  Augsburg,  Spires, 
Yerdun,  Liege,  Zeitz ;  and  the  arch- 
rebel  himself,  the  antipope-maker,  Regi- 
nald of  Cologne.^^  Throughout  Europe 
the  clergy  on  the  side  of  Alexander 
raised  a  cry  of  awful  exultation ;  it  was 
God  manifestly  avenging  himself  on 

SI  Muratori,  sub  ann.  1167;  Yon  Raumer, 
ii.  210.  On  the  1st  of  August  Frederick  was 
crowned ;  September  4,  be  is  at  tbe  Pass  of  Pon- 
tremoli,  in  full  retreat,  or  rather  flight. 


Thomas  a  JBeohet. 


153 


the  enemies  of  tlie  Cliurcli ;  the  new 
Sennaclierib  (so  he  is  called  by  Becket) 
had  been  smitten  in  his  pride ;  and  the 
example  of  this  chastisement  of  Fred- 
erick was  a  command  to  the  Church  to 
resist  to  the  last  all  rebels  against  her 
power,  to  pnt  forth  her  spiritual  arms, 
which  God  would  as  assuredly  support 
by  the  same  or  more  signal  wonders. 
The  defeat  of  Frederick  was  an  admo- 
nition to  the  Pope  to  lay  bare  the  sword 
of  Peter,  and  smite  on  all  sides.^^ 

Tliere  can  be  no  doubt  that  Becket 
so  interpreted  what  he  deemed  Becket 

/         ,  against  the 

a  sign  irom  heaven.   But  even  legates. 

32  In  a  curious  passage  in  a  letter  written  by 
Herbert  de  Bosham  in  the  name  of  Becket, 
Frederick's  defeat  is  compared  to  Henry's  dis- 
graceful campaign  in  Wales.  "My  enemy," 
says  Becket,  "  in  the  abundance  of  his  valor, 
could  not  prevail  against  a  breechless  and  ragged 
people  ('exbraccatum  et  pannosum')." — Giles, 
viii.  p.  268. 


154 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


before  the  disaster  was  certainly  knoAvn 
he  had  determined  to  show  no  snbmis- 
sion  to  a  judge  so  partial  and  so  corrupt 
as  "William  of  Pavia.^  That  cardinal 
had  urged  the  Pope  at  Sens  to  accept 
Becket's  resignation  of  his  see.  Becket 
would  not  deign  to  disguise  his  con- 
tempt. He  wrote  a  letter  so  full  of  vio- 
lence that  John  of  Salisbury,-^  to  whom 
it  was  submitted,  persuaded  him  to  de- 
stroy it.  A  second  was  little  milder ; 
at  length  he  was  persuaded  to  take  a 
more  moderate  tone.  Yet  even  then  he 
speaks  of  the  "  insolence  of  princes  lift- 

83  "  Credimus  non  esse  juri  consentaneum, 
nos  ejus  subire  judicium  vel  examen  qui  quserit 
sibi  facere  commercium  de  sanguine  nostro,  de 
pretio  utinam  non  iniquitatis,  quserit  sibi  nomen 
et  gloriam." — D.  Thorn.  Epist.  Giles,  iii.  p.  15. 
The  two  legates  are  described  as  "i>lus  avaritiae 
quam  justitise  studiosi." — TV.  Cant.  p.  21. 

S4  Giles,  iii.  lo7,  and  John  of  Salisbury's  re- 
markable expostulatorj  letter  upon  Becket's 
violence. — Bouquet,  p.  566. 


Thomas  d  BecJcet. 


155 


ing  up  their  horn."  To  Cardinal  Otho, 
on  the  other  hand,  his  language  borders 
on  adulation. 

The  cardinal  Legates  traveled  in 
slow  state.  Thej  visited  first  Meeting 
Becket  at  Sens,  afterwards  King  Gisors. 
Henry  at  Rouen.  At  length  a  meeting 
was  ao-reed  on  to  be  held  on  the  borders 
of  the  French  and  English  territory, 
between  Gisors  and  Trie.  The  proud 
Becket  was  disturbed  at  being  hastily 
summoned,  when  he  was  unable  to 
muster  a  sufiicient  retinue  of  horsemen 
to  meet  the  Italian  cardinals.  The  two 
kings  were  there.  Of  Henry's  prelates 
the  Archbishop  of  Rouen  alone  was 
present  at  the  first  interview.  Becket 
was  charged  with  urging  the  King  of 
France  to  war  against  his  master.  On 
the  following  day  the  King  of  France 
said  in  the  presence  of  the  cardinals, 
that  this  impeachment  on  Beck-  octave  of 
et's  loyalty  was  false.    To  all  noV.  2.3. 


156      Thomas  d  Bechet. 

the  persuasions,  menaces,  entreaties  of 
tlie  cardinals'^^  Becket  declared  that  he 
would  submit,  "  saving  the  honor  of 
God,  and  of  the  Apostolic  See,  the  lib- 
erty of  the  Church,  the  dignity  of  his 
person,  and  the  property  of  the  churches. 
As  to  the  Customs  he  declared  that  he 
would  rather  bow  his  neck  to  the  exe- 
cutioner than  swear  to  observe  them. 
He  peremptorily  demanded  his  own 
restoration  at  once  to  all  the  honors 
and  possessions  of  his  see."  Tlie  third 
question  was  on  the  appeal  of  the  bish- 
ops. Becket  inveighed  with  bitterness 
on  their  treachery  towards  him,  their 
servility  to  the  King.  "  When  the 
shepherds  fled  all  Egypt  returned  to 
idolatry."  Becket  interpreted  these 
"  shepherds  "  as  the  clergy.^^  He  com- 
pares them  to  the  slaves  in  the  old 

85  Herbert  de  Bosham,  p.  248 ;  Epist.  Giles, 
iii.  16;  Bouquet,  296. 
36  Giles,  iii.  p.  21.  Compare  the  whole  letter. 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  157 

comedy;  he  declared  that  lie  would 
submit  to  no  judgment  on  that  point 
but  that  of  the  Pope  himself. 

The  Cardinals  proceeded  to  the  King. 
They  were  received  but  coldly  The  cardi- 

/  nals  before 

at  Argences,  not  lar  irom  Caen,  the  King, 
at  a  great  meeting  with  the  I^orman 
and  English  prelates.  The  Bishop  of 
London  entered  at  length  into  the 
King's  grievances  and  his  own ;  Beck- 
et's  debt  to  the  King,^^  his  usurpations 
on  the  see  of  London.  At  the  close 
Henry,  in  tears,  entreated  the  cardinals 
to  rid  him  of  the  troublesome  church- 
man. William  of  Pavia  wept,  or  seem- 
ed to  weep  from  sympathy.  Otho, 
writes  Becket's  emissary,  could  hardly 
suppress  his  laughter.  The  English 
prelates  afterwards  at  Le  Mans  solemn- 
ly renewed  their  appeal.    Their  appeal 

Foliot  rather  profanely  said,  the  primate 
seems  to  think  that  as  sin  is  washed  awaj  in 
baptism,  so  debts  are  cancelled  by  promotion. 
14 


158 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


was  accompanied  with  a  letter,  in  whicli 
they  complain  that  Becket  would  leave 
them  exposed  to  the  wrath  of  the  King, 
from  which  wrath  he  himself  had  fled 
of  false  representations  of  the  Customs, 
and  disregard  of  all  justice  and  of  the 
sacred  canons  in  suspending  and  ana- 
thematizing the  clergy  without  hearing 
and  without  trial.  William  of  Pavia 
gave  notice  of  the  appeal  for  the  next 
St.  Martin's  Day  (so  a  year  was  to 
elapse),  with  command  to  abstain  from 
all  excommunication  and  interdict  of 
the  kingdom  till  that  day.^^  Both  car- 
dinals wrote  strongly  to  the  Pope  in 
favor  of  the  Bishop  of  London.*^ 

38  "Ad  mortem  nos  invitat  et  sanguinis  effu- 
sionem,  cum  ipse  mortem,  quam  nemo  sibi  dig- 
nabatur  aut  minabatur  inferre,  sumnio  studio 
declinaverit  et  suum  sanguinem  illibatum  con- 
servando,  ejus  nec  guttam  effundi  voluerit." — 
Giles  vi.  196.    Bouquet,  304. 

89  Giles,  vi.  148.    Bouquet,  304. 

40  Giles,  vi.  135,  141.    Bouquet,  306.  Wil- 


Thomas  d  Becket.  159 

At  this  suspension  Becket  Tn-ote  to 
the  Pope  in  a  tone  of  mingled  grief  and 
indignation.^^  He  described  himself  as 
the  most  wretched  of  men ;  applied  the 
prophetic  description  of  the  Saviour's 
imecpialed  sorrow  to  himself.  He  in- 
veighed against  William  of  Pavia  'j^  he 
threw  himself  on  the  justice  and  com- 
passion of  the  Pope.  But  this  in-  Dec.  29. 
hibition  was  confirmed  bjthe  Pope  him- 
self, in  answer  to  another  embassage  of 
Henry,  consisting  of  Clarembold,  Prior 
elect  of  St.  Augustine's,  the  Archdeacon 

Ham  of  Pavia  recommended  the  translation  of 
Becket  to  some  other  see. 

41  Giles,  iii.  28.    Bonquet,  306. 

42  One  of  his  letters  to  "William  of  Pavia  be- 
gins with  this  fierce  denunciation:  "Xon  crede- 
bam  me  tibi  venalem  proponendum  emptoribus, 
ut  de  sanguine  meo  compareres  tibi  compen- 
dium de  pretio  iniquitatis,  faciens  tibi  nomen  et 
gloriara.'' — Giles,  iii.  153.  Becket  always  re- 
presents his  enemies  as  thirsting  after  his 
blood. 


160      Thomas  d  Beclcet. 

of  Salisbury,  and  otliers^-^  This  import- 
ant favor  was  obtained  tlirough  tbe  inter- 
est of  Cardinal  John  of  Xaples,  who  ex- 
presses his  hope  that  the  insolent  Arch- 
bishop must  at  length  see  that  he  had 
no  resource  but  in  submission. 

Becket  wrote  again  and  again  to  the 
May  19.^^  Popc,  bittcrlj  complaiuing  that 
the  Pope,  the  successive  ambassadors  of 
the  King,  John  of  Oxford,  John  Cum- 
min, the  Prior  of  St.  Augustine's,  re- 
turned from  Rome  each  with  larger 
concessions.^  The  Pope  acknowledged 
that  the  concessions  had  been  extorted 
from  him.  The  ambassadors  of  Henry 
had  threatened  to  leave  the  Papal  Court, 
if  their  demands  were  not  complied 
with,  in  open  hostility.  The  Pope  was 
still  an  exile  in  Benevento,^^  and  did 

43  GUes,  iv.  128 ;  vi.  133.  Bouquet,  312, 
313. 

44  Epist.  Giles,  ii.  24. 

45  He  was  at  Benevento,  though  -with  differ- 


Thomas  d  Becket.  161 

not  dare  to  reocciipj  Eome.  Tlie  Em- 
peror, even  after  his  discomfiture,  was 
still  formidable ;  lie  might  collect  an- 
other overwhelming  Transalpine  force. 
The  subsidies  of  Henry  to  the  Italian 
cities  and  to  the  Eoman  partisans  of 
the  Pope  could  not  be  spared.  The 
Pontiff  therefore  wrote  soothing  letters 
to  the  King  of  France  and  to  Beck- 
et. He  insinuated  that  these  conces- 
sions were  but  for  a  time.  "  For  a 
time !"  replied  Becket  in  an  answer  full 
of  fire  and  passion :  "  and  in  that  time 
the  Church  of  England  falls  utterly  to 
ruin ;  the  property  of  the  Church  and 
the  poor  is  wrested  from  her.  In  that 
time  prelacies  and  abbacies  are  confis- 
cated to  the  King's  use :  in  that  time 
who  will  guard  the  flock  when  the  wolf 
is  in  the  fold  ?  This  fatal  dispensation 
will  be  a  precedent  for  all  ages.  But 

ent  degrees  of  power,  from  August  22,  1167,  to 
Feb.  24,  1170. 

14* 


162 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


for  me  and  my  fellow  exiles  all  author- 
ity of  Rome  had  ceased  for  ever  in 
England.  There  had  been  no  one  who 
had  maintained  the  Pope  against  kings 
and  princes."  His  significant  language 
involves  the  Poj)e  himself  in  the  gene- 
ral and  unsparing  charge  of  rapacity 
and  venality  with  which  he  brands  the 
court  of  Home.  "  I  shall  have  to  give 
an  account  at  the  last  day,  where  gold 
and  silver  are  of  no  avail,  nor  gifts 
which  blind  the  eyes  even  of  the  wise."^^ 
The  same  contemj)tuous  allusions  to 
that  notorious  venality  transpire  in  a 
To  the  vehement  letter  addressed  to  the 
Cardinals.  Q^^^^^  Cardiuals,  iu  which  he 
urges  that  his  cause  is  their  own ;  that 
they  are  sanctioning  a  fatal  and  irre- 
trievable example  to  temporal  princes ; 
that  they  are  abrogating  all  obedience 
to  the  Church.    "  Your  gold  and  silver 

46  Giles,  iii.  p.  55.  Bouquet,  317.  Eead  the 
whole  letter  beginning  "  Anima  mea." 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


163 


will  not  deliver  you  in  the  day  of  tlie 
T\Tatli  of  the  Lord."^*  On  the  other 
hand,  the  King  and  the  Queen  of 
France  wrote  in  a  tone  of  indignant  re- 
monstrance that  the  Pope  had  aban- 
doned the  cause  of  the  enemv  of  their 
enemy.  More  than  one  of  the  French 
prelates  who  wrote  in  the  same  strain 
declared  that  their  King,  in  his  resent- 
ment, had  seriously  thought  of  defection 
to  the  Antipope,  and  of  a  close  connex- 
ion with  the  Imperial  family.*^  Alex- 
ander determined  to  make  another  at- 
tempt at  reconciliation;  at  least  he 
should  gain  time,  that  precious  source 
of  hope  to  the  embarrassed  and  iiTcso- 
lute.  His  mediators  were  the  Prior  of 
Montdieu  and  Bernard  de  Corilo,  a 
monk  of  Grammont.^^   It  was  a  for- 

4T  Bonqnet,  324. 

48  Epist.  -Giles,  iv.    Bouquet,  320. 

49  Their  instructions  are  dated  May  25, 
1168.    See  also  the  wavering  letters  to  Becket 


164 


Thomas  d  B  c  elect. 


tunate  time,  for  just  at  this  juncture, 
peace  and  even  amitj  seemed  to  be  es- 
tablished between  the  Elinixs  of  France 
and  England.  Many  of  the  great  !N'or- 
man  and  French  prelates  and  nobles 
offered  themselves  as  joint  mediators 
with  the  commissioners  of  the  Pope. 

A  vast  assembly  was  convened  on  the 
Meeting  daj  of  the  Epiphany  in  the  plains 
mirau.  near  Montmirail,  where  in  the 
presence  of  the  two  kings  and  the  barons 
of  each  realm  the  reconciliation  was  to 
take  place.  Becket  held  a  long  con- 
ference with  the  mediators.  He  pro- 
posed, instead  of  the  obnoxious  phrase 
"  saving  my  order,"  to  substitute  "  sav- 
ing the  honor  of  God ; "  ^  the  mediators 

and  the  King  of  France. — Giles,  iv.  p.  25,  p. 
111. 

50"Sed  quid?  IsTobis  ita  consilimn  suspen- 
dentibus  et  haisitantibus  quid  agendum  a  pacis 
mediatoribus,  multis  et  magnis  viris,  et  prasser- 
tim  qui  inter  ipsos  a  viris  religosis  et  aliis  arcbi- 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


165 


of  the  treaty  insisted  on  his  throwing 
himself  on  the  King's  mercy  absohitely 
and  without  'reservation.  With  great 
reluctance  Becket  appeared  at  least  to 
yield :  his  counselors  acquiesced  in 
silence.  With  this  distinct  understand- 
ing the  Kings  of  France  and  England 
met  at  Montmirail,  and  everything 
seemed  prepared  for  the  final  settlement 
of  this  long  and  obstinate  quar-  Jan.  6,ii69. 
rel.  The  Kings  awaited  the  approach 
of  the  Primate.  But  as  he  was  on  his 
way,  De  Bosham  (who  always  assumes 
to  himself  the  credit  of  suggesting 
Becket's  most  haughty  proceedings) 
whispered  in  his  ear  (De  Bosham  him- 
self asserts  this)  a  solemn  caution,  lest 
he  should  act  over  again  the  fatal  scene 
of  weakness  at  Clarendon.    Becket  had 

prsesuli  amicissimis  et  familiarissimis,  adeo 
sicut  et  supra  diximus,  suasus,  tractus  et  im- 
pulsus  est,  ut  haberetur  persuasus." — De  Bosh- 
am, p.  268. 


366 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


not  time  to  answer  De  Bosliam :  he  ad- 
vanced to  the  King  and  threw  himself 
at  his  feet.  Henry  raised'him  instantly 
from  the  ground.  Becket,  standing  up- 
right, began  to  solicit  the  clemency  of 
the  King.  He  declared  his  readiness 
to  submit  his  whole  cause  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  two  Kings  and  of  the  as- 
sembled prelates  and  nobles.  After  a 
pause  he  added,  "  Saving  the  honor  of 
God."  51 

At  this  unexpected  breach  of  his 
agreement  the  mediators,  even  the  most 
ardent  admirers  of  Becket,  stood  aghast. 
Treaty  Hcury,  thinking  himself  duped, 
broken  off.  might,  broke  out  into 

51 "  Sed  mox  adjecit,  quod  nec  rex  nec  pads 
mediatores,  vel  alii,  vel  etiam  sui  propria  sesti- 
maverunt,  ut  adjiceret  videlicet  '  Salvo  honore 
Dei.' " — De  Bosliam,  p.  262.  In  his  account  to 
the  Pope  of  this  meeting,  Becket  suppresses  his 
own  tergiversation  on  this  point. — Epist.  Giles, 
iii.  p.  43.  Compare  John  of  Salisbury  (who 
was  not  present).    Bouquet,  395. 


Thomas  a  Becket.  167 

one  of  liis  ungovernable  fits  of  anger. 
He  reproached  tlie  Archbishop  with 
arrogance,  obstinacy,  and  ingratitude. 
He  so  far  forgot  himself  as  to  declare 
that  Becket  had  displayed  all  his  mag- 
nificence and  prodigality  as  chancellor 
only  to  court  popularity  and  to  supplant 
his  king  in  the  afi'ections  of  his  people. 
Becket  listened  with  patience,  and  ap- 
pealed to  the  King  of  France  as  witness 
to  his  loyalty.  Henry  fiercely  inter- 
rupted him.  "  Mark,  Sire  (he  address- 
ed the  King  of  France),  the  infatuation 
and  pride  of  the  man  :  he  pretends  to 
have  been  banished,  though  he  fled 
from  his  see.  He  would  persuade  you 
that  he  is  maintaining  the  cause  of  the 
Church,  and  suffering  for  the  sake  of 
justice.  I  have  always  been  willing, 
and  am  still  willing,  to  grant  that  he 
should  rule  his  Church  with  the  same 
liberty  as  his  predecessors,  men  not  less 
holy  than  himself."    Even  the  King  of 


168      Thomas  d  Becket. 

^'rance  seemed  shocked  at  the  conduct 
of  Becket.  The  prelates  and  nobles, 
having  in  vain  labored  to  bend  the  in- 
flexible spirit  of  the  Primate,  retired  in 
sullen  dissatisfaction.  He  stood  alone. 
Even  John  of  Poitiers,  his  most  ardent 
admirer,  followed  him  to  Etampes,  and 
entreated  him  to  yield.  "  And  you, 
too,"  returned  Becket,  "  will  you  stran- 
gle us,  and  give  triumph  to  the  malig- 
nity of  our  enemies  ?  "  ^'^ 

The  King  of  England  retired,  follow- 
ed by  the  Papal  Legates,  who,  though 
they  held  letters  of  Commination  from 
the  Pope,*^  delayed  to  serve  them  on 

52  "  Ut  quid  nos  et  vos  strangnlatis  ?  " — Epist. 
Giles,  iii.  312. 

53  Throughout  the  Pope  kept  up  his  false 
game.  He  privately  assured  the  King  of  France 
that  he  need  not  be  alarmed  if  himself  fA^lexan- 
der)  seemed  to  take  part  against  the  archbishop. 
The  cause  Tvas  safe  in  his  bosom.  See  the 
curious  letter  of  Matthew  of  Sens. — Epist.  Giles, 
iv.  p.  166. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


169 


the  King.  Becket  followed  the  'King 
of  France  to  Montmirail.  He  was  re- 
ceived bj  Louis ;  and  Becket  put  on 
so  cheerful  a  countenance  as  to  surprise 
all  present.  On  his  return  to  Sens,  he 
explained  to  his  followers  that  his  cause 
was  not  only  that  of  the  Church,  but  of 
God.^  He  passed  among  the  acclama- 
tions of  the  poj)ulace,  ignorant  of  his 
duplicity.  "Behold  the  prelate  who 
stood  up  even  before  two  kings  for  the 
honor  of  God." 

Becket  may  have  had  foresight,  or 
even  secret  information  of  the  hollow- 
ness  of  the  peace  between  the  two  kings. 
Before  many  days,  some  acts  of  barbar- 
ous cruelty  by  Henry  against  AVar  of 
his  rebellious  subjects  plunged  England, 
the  two  nations  again  in  hostility.  Tlie 
King  of  France  and  his  prelates,  feeling 

&4  "Nunc  prsster  ecclesise  causam,  expressam 
ipsius  etiam  Dei  causam  agebamus." — De  Bosh- 
am,  272. 

15 


170 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


how  nearly  tliey  had  lost  their  powerful 
ally,  began  to  admire  what  they  called 
Becket's  magnanimity  as  loudly  as  they 
had  censured  his  obstinacy.  The  King 
visited  him  at  Sens :  one  of  the  Papal 
commissioners,  the  Monk  of  Grammont, 
said  privately  to  Herbert  de  Bosliam, 
that  he  had  rather  his  foot  had  been  cut 
off  than  that  Becket  should  have  listen- 
ed to  his  advice.^^ 

Becket  now  at  once  drew  the  sword 
and  cast  away  the  scabbard.  "  Cursed 
is  he  that  refraineth  his  sword  from 
blood."  This  Becket  applied  to  the 
spiritual  weapon.  On  Ascension  Day 
Excommu-  ^galu  solcmuly  excommuni- 
nication.  ^^^^^  Gilbert  Foliot  Bishop  of 
London,  Joscelin  of  Salisbury,  the  Arch- 
deacon of  Salisbury,  Eichard  de  Luci, 
Eandulpli  de  Broc,  and  many  other  of 
Henry's  most  faithful  counselors.  He 
announced  this  excommunication  to  the 

55  De  Bosham,  278. 


i 

i  Thomas  d  BecTcet.  171 

Archbishop  ^of  Eouen,^^  and  reminded 
him  that  whosoever  presumed  to  com- 
municate with  any  one  of  these  outlaws 
of  the  Church  bj  word,  in  meat  or 
drink,  or  even  bj  salutation,  subjected 
himself  thereby  to  the  same  excommu- 
nication. The  appeal  to  the  Pope  he 
treated  with  sovereign  contempt.  He 
sternly  inhibited  Eoger  of  Worcester, 
who  had  entreated  permission  to  com- 
municate with  his  brethren.^^  "  What 
fellowship  is  there  between  Christ  and 
Belial  ? "  He  announced  this  act  to  the 
Pope,  entreating,  but  with  the  tone  of 
command,  his  approbation  of  the  pro- 
ceeding. An  emissary  of  Becket  had 
the  boldness  to  enter  St.  Paul's  Cathe- 
dral in  London,  to  thrust  the  sentence 
into  the  hands  of  the  officiating  priest, 
and  then  to  proclaim  with  a  loud  voice, 
"  I\jiow  all  men,  that  Gilbert  Bishop  of 

56  Giles,  iii.  290;  vi.  293.    Bouquet,  346. 
5T  Giles,  iii.  322.    Bouquet,  348. 


I 

172      Thomas  d  Bechet. 


London  is  excommunicate  by  Thomas 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Legate 
of  the  Pope."  He  escaped  with  some 
difficulty  from  ill-usage  by  the  people. 
Foliot  immediately  summoned  his 
clergy ;  explained  the  illegality,  injus- 
tice, nullity  of  an  excommunication 
without  citation,  hearing,  or  trial,  and 
renewed  his  appeal  to  the  Pope.  The 
Dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  all  the  clergy, 
excepting  the  priests  of  certain  monas- 
teries, joined  in  the  appeal.  The  Bishop 
of  Exeter  declined,  nevertheless  he  gave 
to  Foliot  the  kiss  of  peace.^^ 

King  Henry  was  not  without  fear  at 
Henry'8  this  last  dcspcratc  blow.  He 

intrigues  •      i        i       i    •  i 

in  Italy,  had  uot  a  single  chaplam  who 
had  not  been  excommunicated,  or  was 
not  virtually  under  ban  for  holding 
intercourse  with  persons  under  excom- 
munication.^   Lie  continued  his  active 

58  Epist.  Giles,  iv.  225. 

59  Fragm.  Vit.  Giles,  i.  p.  371. 


Thomas  d  Bee  I'  e  t . 


173 


intrigues,  liis  subsidies  in  Italy.  He 
bouglit  the  support  of  Milan,  Pavia, 
Cremona,  Parma,  Bologna.  The  Fran- 
gipani,  the  family  of  Leo,  the  people  of 
Rome,  were  still  kept  in  allegiance  to 
the  Pope  chiefly  by  his  lavish  pay- 
ments.^ He  made  overtures  to  the 
King  of  Sicily,  the  Pope's  ally,  for  a 
matrimonial  alliance  with  his  family : 
and  finally,  he  urged  the  tempting  ofi'er 
to  mediate  a  peace  between  the  Em- 
peror and  the  Pope.  Reginald  of  Salis- 
bury boasted  that,  if  the  Pope  should 
die,  Hemy  had  the  whole  College  of 
Cardinals  in  his  pay,  and  could  name 
his  Pope.^ 

6*^  Et  quod  omnes  Romanos  data  pecunia  indu- 
cant  ut  faciant  fidelitatem  domino  Papse,  dnm- 
modo  in  nostra  dejectione  regis  Angliae  satis- 
faciat  Yoluntati." — Epist.  ad  Humbold.  Card. 
Giles,  iii.  123.  Bouquet,  350.  Compare  Lam- 
beth, on  the  effect  of  Italian  affairs  on  the  con- 
duct of  the  Pope.— p.  106. 

61  Epist.  188.  p.  266. 
15* 


174 


Tliomas  d  Beclcet. 


But  no  longer  dependent  on  Henry's 
largesses  to  liis  partisans,  Alexander's 
affairs  wore  a  more  prosperous  aspect. 
He  began,  yet  cautiously,  to  show  his 
real  bias.  He  determined  to  appoint  a 
New  Legatine  ncw  Icgatinc  commissiou,  not 


Commission. 


siar.  10^  11C9.  now  rapacious  cardinals  and 
avowed  partisans  of  Henry.  The  ^s"im- 
cios  were  Gratian,  a  hard  and  severe 
canon  lawyer,  not  likely  to  swerve  from 
the  loftiest  claims  of  the  Decretals  ;  and 
Yivian,  a  man  of  more  pliant  character, 
but  as  far  as  he  was  iinn  in  any  princi- 
ple, disposed  to  high  ecclesiastical  views. 
At  the  same  time  he  urged  Becket  to 
issue  no  sentences  against  the  King  or 
the  Iving's  followers ;  or  if,  as  he  hardly 
believed,  he  had  already  done  so,  to 
suspend  their  powers. 

The  terrors  of  the  excommunication 
English  pre-  "^Grc  uot  without  their  effect 
lates  waver.  England.  Somc  of  the  Bish- 
ops  began  gradually  to  recede  from  the 


Thomas  a  Bechet. 


175 


King's  party,  and  to  incline  to  that  of 
the  Primate.  Hereford  had  already 
attempted  to  cross  the  sea.  Henry  of 
Winchester  was  in  private  correspond- 
ence with  Becket :  he  had  throughout 
secretly  supplied  him  with  money.^^ 
Becket  skillfully  labored  to  awaken  his 
old  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  Crown. 
He  reminded  Winchester  of  his  royal 
descent,  that  he  was  secure  in  his  pow- 
erful connexions ;  "  the  impious  one 
would  not  dare  to  strike  him,  for  fear 
lest  his  kindred  should  avenge  his 
cause."^  I^orwich,  Worcester,  Chester, 
even  Chichester,  more  than  wavered. 
This  movement  was  strengthened  by  a 
false  step  of  Foliot,  which  exposed  all 
his  former  proceedings  to  the  charge 

62  Fitz-Stephen,  p.  271. 

63  "  Domo  vestra  flagellnm  suspendit  impins, 
ne  quod  promereret,  propinquorum  vestrornm 
ministerio  veniat  super  eum." — Giles,  iii.  338. 
Bouquet,  358. 


176      Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


i 


of  irregular  ambition.  He  began  to 
declare  publicly  not  only  that  he  never 
swore  canonical  obedience  to  Becket, 
but  to  assert  the  independence  of  the 
see  of  London  and  the  right  of  the  see 
of  London  to  the  primacy  of  England. 
Becket  speaks  of  this  as  an  act  of  spirit- 
ual parricide :  Foliot  was  another  Ab- 
salom.^ He  appealed  to  the  pride  and 
the  fears  of  the  Chapter  of  Canterbury: 
he  exposed,  and  called  on  them  to  resist, 
these  machinations  of  Foliot  to  degrade 
the  archiepiscopal  see.  At  the  same 
time  he  warned  all  persons  to  abstain 
from  communion  with  those  who  were 
under  his  ban ;  for  he  had  accurate 
information  as  to  all  who  were  guilty 
of  that  offence."  Even  in  France  this 
proceeding  strengthened  the  sympathy 
with  Becket.  Tlie  Archbishop  of  Sens, 
the  Bishops  of  Troyes,  Paris,  Is'oyon, 

64  Giles,  iii.  201.    Bouquet,  361. 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  177 


Auxerre,  Boulogne,  wrote  to  the  Pope 
to  denounce  this  audacious  impiety  of 
tho  Bishop  of  London. 

Tlie  first  interview  of  the  new  Papal 
lesrates,  •  Gratian  and  Yivian,  interview 

.  .  .11   of  the  new 

With  the  Kmer,  is  described  Legates  with 

..1      •         1  •      .  1  the  King. 

With  Singular  minuteness  by  a  Aug.  23. 
friend  of  Becket.^^  On  the  eve  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew's Day  they  arrived  at  Dam- 
port.  On  their  aiDproach,  Geoffrey  Ridel 
and  Nigel  Sackville  stole  out  of  the  town. 
The  King,  as  he  came  in  from  hunting, 
courteously  stopped  at  the  lodging  of 
the  Legates:  as  they  were  conversing 
the  Prince  rode  up  with  a  great  blow- 
ing of  horns  from  the  chase,  and  pre- 
sented a  whole  stag  to  the  Legates. 
The  next  morning  the  King  visited 
them,  accompanied  by  the  Bishops  of 
Seez  and  of  Rennes.  Presently  John 
of    Oxford,   Reginald  of  Salisbury, 

65  "Amici  ad  Thorn  am.  "—Giles,  iv.  277. 
Bouquet,  370. 


178 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


and  the  Archdeacon  of  Llandaff  were 
admitted.  The  conference  lasted  the 
whole  day,  sometimes  in  amity,  some- 
times in  strife.  Just  before  sunset  the 
King  rushed  out  in  wrath,  swearing  by 
the  eyes  of  God  that  he  would  not  sub- 
mit to  their  terms.  Gratian  firmly  re- 
plied, "  Think  not  to  threaten  us ;  we 
come  from  a  court  which  is  accustomed 
to  command  Emperors  and  Kings." 
Tlie  King  then  summoned  his  barons 
to  witness,  together  with.his  chaplains, 
what  fair  ofi"ers  he  had  made.  He  de- 
parted somewhat  pacified.  The  eighth 
day  was  appointed  for  the  convention, 
at  which  the  King  and  the  Archbishop 
were  again  to  meet  in  the  presence  of 
the  Legates. 

It  was  held  at  Bayeux.  With  the. 
Aug.  31.  Iving  appeared  the  Archbishops 
of  Eouen  and  Bordeaux,  the  Bi.shop  of 
Le  Mans,  and  all  the  Xorman  prelates. 
The  second  day  arrived  one  English 


Thomas  d  Beclcet.  179 

bishop — Worcester.  John  of  Poitiers 
kept  prudently  awaj.  The  Legates 
presented  the  Pope's  preceding  letters 
in  favor  of  Becket.  Tlie  King,  after 
stating  his  grievances, said,  "  If  for 
this  man  I  do  anything,  on  account  of 
the  Pope's  entreaties,  he  ought  to  be 
very  grateful."  Tlie  next  day  at  a 
place  called  Le  Bar,  the  King  requested 
the  Legates  to  absolve  his  chaplains 
without  any  oath :  on  their  refusal,  the 
King  mounted  his  horse,  and  swore  that 
he  would  never  listen  to  the  Pope  or 
any  one  else  concerning  the  restoration 
of  Becket.  The  prelates  interceded; 
the  Legates  partially  gave  way.  The 
King  dismounted  "and  renewed  the  con- 
ference. At  length  he  consented  to  the 
return  of  Becket  and  all  the  exiles.  He 

66  Henry,  it  should  be  observed,  waived  all 
the  demands  which  he  had  hitherto  urged  against 
Becket,  for  debts  incurred  during  his  chancellor- 
ship. 


180 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


seemed  delighted  at  tliis,  and  treated  of 
other  affairs.  He  returned  again  to  the 
Legates,  and  demanded  that  they,  or 
one  of  them,  or  at  least  some  one  com- 
missioned by  them,  should  cross  over 
to  England  to  absolve  all  who  had  been 
excommunicated  by  the  Primate.  Gra- 
tian  refused  this  with  inflexible  obstina- 
cy. The  King  was  again  furious:  "I  care 
not  an  egg  for  you  and  your  excommu- 
nications." He  again  mounted  his 
horse,  but  at  the  earnest  supplication 
of  the  prelates  he  returned  once  more. 
He  demanded  that  they  should  write 
to  the  Pope  to  announce  his  pacific 
offers.  The  Bishops  explained  to  the 
King  that  the  Legates  had  at  last  pro- 
duced a  positive  mandate  of  the  Pope, 
enjoining  their  absolute  obedience  to 
his  Legates.  The  King  replied,  "  I 
know  that  they  will  lay  my  realm  under 
an  interdict,  but  cannot  I,  who  can  take 
the  strongest  castle  in  a  day,  seize  any 


Thomas  d  Beclcet.  ISl 

ecclesiastic  who  shall  presume  to  utter 
sucli  an  interdict  Some  concessions 
allayed  his  wrath,  and  he  returned  to  his 
ofters  of  reconciliation.  Geoffry  Ridel 
and  Xigel  Sackville  were  absolved 
on  the  condition  of  declaring,  with 
their  hands  on  the  Gospels,  that  they 
would  obey  the  commands  of  the  Le- 
gates. The  King  still  pressing  the  visit 
of  one  of  the  Legates  to  England,Yivian 
consented  to  take  the  journey.  The 
bishops  were  ordered  to  draw  up  the 
treaty;  but  the  King  insisted  on  a 
clause  "  Saving  the  honor  of  his  Crown." 
They  adjourned  to  a  future  day  at 
Caen.  The  Bishop  of  Lisieux,  adds 
the  writer,  flattered  the  King;  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Rouen  was  for  God  and  the 
Pope. 

Two  conferences  at  Caen  and  at  Rou- 
en were  equally  inconclusive ;  the  King 
insisted  on  the  words,  "  saving  the  dig- 
nity of  my  Crown."    Becket  inquired 

16 


182 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


if  lie  might  add  "  saving  tlie  liberty  of 
the  Chiirch."6T 

The  King  threw  all  the  blame  of  the 
final  rupture  on  the  Legates,  who  had 
agreed,  he  said,  to  this  clause,^^  but 
through  Becket's  influence  withdrew 
from  their  word.^^  He  reminded  the 
Po]3e  that  he  had  in  his  possession  let- 
ters of  his  Holiness  exempting  him  and 
his  realm  from  all  authority  of  the  Pri- 
mate till  he  should  be  received  into  the 
royal  favor.'^o  "  If,"  he  adds,  "  the  Pope 

6T  Epist.  Giles,  iv.  216.    Bouquet,  373. 

68  "  Revocato  consensu,"  writes  the  Bishop  of 
Nevers,  a  moderate  prelate,  who  regrets  the 
obstinacy  of  the  nuncios.  Giles,  vi.  266.  Bou- 
quet, 377.  Compare  the  letter  of  the  clergy  of 
l^ormandy  to  the  Pope. — Giles,  vi.  177.  Bou- 
quet, 377. 

69  Becket  thought,  or  pretended  to  think, 
that  under  the  "  dignitatibus  "  lurked  the  "  con- 
suetudinibus." — Giles,  iii.  299.    Bouquet,  379. 

"  Ceteras  vestras  recepimus,  et  ipsas  adhuc 
penes  nos  habemus,  in  quibus  terram  nostram 


Thoracis  d  BecJcet. 


183 


refuses  my  demands,  he  must  lience- 
forth  despair  of  my  good  will,  and  look 
to  other  quarters  to  protect  his  realm 
and  his  honor."  Both  parties  renewed 
their  appeals,  their  intrigues  in  Rome  ; 
Becket's  complaints  of  Rome's  venality 
became  louderJ^ 

Becket  began  again  to  fulminate  his 
excommunications.  Before  his  depart- 
ure Gratian  signified  to  Geoffry  Ridel 
and  Xigel  Sackville  that  their  absolu- 
tion was  conditional ;  if  peace  was  not 
ratified  by  Michaelmas,  they  were  still 
under  the  ban.  Becket  menaced  some 
old,  some  new  victims,  the  Dean  of 
Salisbury,  John  Cummin,  the  Arch- 

et  personas  regni  a  prgefata  Cantuarensis  potes- 
tate  eximebatis,  donee  ipse  in  gratiam  nostram 
rediisset." — Epist.  Giles,  vi.  291.  Bouquet,  374. 

71  "  [N'am  quod  mundus  sentit,  dolet,  ingemis- 
cit,  nullus  adeo  iniquam  causam  ad  ecclesiam 
Romanam  defert,  quin  ibi  spe  lucri  concepta  ne 
dixerira  odore  sordium,  adjutorem  inveniat  et 
patronum/' — Epist.  iii.  133;  Bouquet,  382. 


184      Thomas  d  Becket. 


deacon  of  Llandaff,  and  otliersJ-  But 
lie  now  took  a  more  decisive  and  terri- 
ble step.  He  wrote  to  the  bishops  of 
England,'^  commanding  them  to  lay 
the  whole  kingdom  under  interdict ;  all 
divine  offices  were  to  cease  except  bap- 
tism, penance,  and  the  viaticum,  unless 
Nov.  2, 1170.  before  the  Feast  of  the  Purifi- 
cation the  King  should  have  given  full 
satisfaction  for  his  contumacy  to  the 
Chm'ch.  This  was  to  be  done  with 
closed  doors,  the  laity  expelled  from 
the  ceremony,  with  no  bell  tolling,  no 
dirge  wailing ;  all  church  music  was  to 
cease.  The  act  was  specially  announced 
to  the  chapters  of  Chichester,  Lincoln, 
and  Bath.  Of  the  Pope  he  demanded 
that  he  would  treat  the  King's  am- 
bassadors, Eeginald  of  Salisbury  and 
Eichard  Barre,  one  as  actually  ex- 
communicate, the  other  as  contami- 

72  Giles,  iii.  250 ;  Bouquet,  387. 
■^3  Giks,  iii.  33-i ;  Bouquet,  388. 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


185 


nated  by  intercourse  with  the  excom- 
municate.'''* 

The  menace  of  the  Interdict,  with  the 
fear  that  the  Bishops  of  England,  all 
but  London  and  Salisbury,  might  be 
overawed  into  publishing  it  in  their 
dioceses,  threw  Henry  back  into  his 
usual  iiTCSolution.  There  were  other 
alarming  signs.  Gratian  had  returned 
to  Rome,  accompanied  by  William, 
Archbishop  of  Sens,  Becket's  most  faith- 
ful admirer.  Rumors  spread  that  Wil- 
liam was  to  return  invested  in  full 

74  Giles,  iii.  42 ;  Bouquet,  390.  Reginald  of 
Salisbury  was  an  especial  object  of  Becket's 
hate.  He  calls  bim  one  born  in  fornication 
("  fornicarium "),  son  of  a  priest.  Reginald 
hated  Becket  with  equal  cordiality.  Becket 
had  betrayed  him  by  a  false  promise  of  not  in- 
juring his  father.  "  Quod  utique  ipsi  non  plus 
quam  cani  faceremus."  —  This  letter  contains 
Reginald's  speech  about  Henry  having  the  Col- 
lege of  Cardinals  in  his  pay. — Giles,  iii.  225; 
Bouquet,  391. 


186 


Thomas  d  Be  diet 


legatine  powers  —  William,  not  only 
Becket's  friend,  but  tlie  head  of  the 
French  hierarchy.  If  the  Interdict 
should  be  extended  to  his  French  domin- 
ions, and  the  Excommunication  launch- 
ed against  his  person,  could  he  depend 
on  the  precarious  fidelity  of  the  Korman 
prelates  ?  Differences  had  again  arisen 
with  the  King  of  France/ ^  Henry  was 
Henry  at  ^cized  with  au  acccss  of  devotion. 
Paris.  asked  permission  to  offer  his 

prayers  at  the  shrines  and  at  the  Mar- 
tyrs' Mount  (Montmartre)  at  Paris. 
The  pilgrimage  would  lead  to  an  inter- 
view with  the  King  of  France,  and  offer 
an  occasion  of  renewing  the  negotia- 
tions with  Becket.  Yivan  was  hastily 
summoned  to  turn  back.    Ilis  vanity 

Becket  writes  to  the  Pope,  Januarj  1170. 
"  Nec  vos  oportet  de  caetero  vereri,  ne  transeat 
ad  schismaticos,  quod  sic  eum  Ciiristus  in  manu 
famuli  sui,  regis  Francorum  subegit,  ut  ab  obse- 
quio  ejus  non  possit  amplius  separari." — ^p,  48. 


Thomas  a  Bechet.  187 


was  flattered  by  the  hope  of  Nov.  ii69. 
achieving  that  reconciliation  which  had 
failed  with  Gratian.  He  wrote  to 
Becket  requesting  his  presence.  Becket, 
though  he  suspected  Yivian,  yet  out  of 
respect  to  the  King  of  France,  consent- 
ed to  approach  as  near  as  Chateau  Cor- 
beil.  After  the  conference  with  the 
King  of  France,  two  petitions  from 
Becket,  in  his  usual  tone  of  imperious 
humility,  were  presented  to  the  King  of 
England.  Tlie  Primate  condescended 
to  entreat  the  favor  of  Henry,  and  the 
restoration  of  the  Church  of  Canterbury, 
in  as  ample  a  form  as  it  was  held  before 
his  exile.  The  second  was  more  brief, 
but  raised  a  new  question  of  compensa- 
tion for  loss  and  damage  during  the 
archbishop's  absence  from  his  Negotiations 
see.*^^    Both  parties  mistrusted  renewed. 

"6  Many  diflBcult  points  arose.  Did  Becket 
demand  not  merely  tlie  actual  possessions  of  the 
see,  but  all  to  which  he  laid  claim  ?    There  were 


188      Thomas  d  Bechet. 


i 


eacli  other ;  each,  watched  the  other's 
words  with  c  aptioiis  j  ealous j.  Yiviaii, 
weary  of  those  verbal  chicaneries  of 
the  King,  declared  that  he  had  never 
met  with  so  mendacious  a  man  in  his 
life.'*^  Yivian  might  have  remembered 
his  own  retractations,  still  more  those  of 
Bechet  on  former  occasions.  He  with- 
drew from  the  negotiation;  and  this 
conduct,  with  the  refusal  of  a  gift  from 
Henrj  (a  rare  act  of  virtue),  won  him 
the  approbation  of  Becket.  But  Becket 
himself  was  not  yet  without  mistrust ; 
he  had  doubts  whether  Vivian's  report 
to  the  Pope  would  be  in  the  same  spirit. 
"  If  it  be  not,  he  deserves  the  doom  of 
the  traitor  Judas." 

three  estates  held  by  William  de  Eos,  Henry  of 
Essex,  and  John  the  Marshall  (the  original  ob- 
ject of  dispute  at  N"orthampton  ?),  which  Becket 
specifically  required  and  declared  that  he  would 
not  give  up  if  exiled  for  ever. — Epist.  Giles,  iii. 
220 ;  Bouquet,  400. 

Epist.  Giles,  iii.  262  ;  Bouquet,  199. 


/ 


Thomas  d  Becket.  189 


Henry  at  length  agreed  that  on  the 
question  of  compensation  he  would 
abide  by  the  sentence  of  the  court  of 
the  French  King,  the  judgment  of  the 
Galilean  Church,  and  of  the  University 
of  Paris.'^^  This  made  so  favorable  an 
impression  that  Becket  could  only 
evade  it  by  declaring  that  he  had  rather 
come  to  an  amicable  agreement  with 
the  King  than  involve  the  affair  in 
litigation. 

At  length  all  difficulties  seemed  yield- 
ing away,  when  Becket  demanded  g.^^ 
the  customary  kiss  of  peace,  as  the  p^^*^®- 
pledge  of  reconciliation.  Henry  per- 
emptorily refused  ;  he  had  sworn  in  his 
wrath  never  to  grant  this  favor  to 
Becket.  He  was  inexorable ;  and  with- 
out this  guarantee  Becket  would  not 
trust  the  faith  of  the  King.  He  was 
reminded,  he  said,  by  the  case  of  the 
Count  of  Flanders,  that  even  the  kiss  of 
Epist.  ibid. ;  Radulph  de  Diceto. 


190      Thomas  d  BecJtet. 


peace  did  not  secure  a  revolted  subject, 
Robert  de  Silian,  who,  even  after  tliis 
sign  of  amity,  bad  been  seized  and  cast 
into  a  dungeon.  Henry's  conduct,  if 
not  the  effect  of  sudden  passion  or  un- 
governable aversion,  is  inexplicable. 
Why  did  he  seek  this  intervicTT,  which, 
if  he  was  insincere  in  his  desire  for  re- 
conciliation, could  afford  but  short 
delay  ?  and  from  such  oaths  he  would 
hardly  have  refused,  for  any  great  pur- 
pose of  his  own,  to  receive  absolution."^^ 
On  the  other  hand,  it  is  quite  clear  that 
Becket  reckoned  on  the  legatine  power 
of  William  of  Sens  and  the  terror  of  the 
English  prelates,  who  had  refused  to 
attend  a  council  in  London  to  reject 
the  Interdict.  He  had  now  fid.1  con- 
fidence that  he  could  exact  his  own 

"^^  According  to  Pope  Alexander,  Hem-y  offer- 
ed that  his  son  should  give  the  kiss  of  peace  in 
his  stead. — Giles,  iv.  55. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


191 


terms  and  humble  the  King  under  his 
feet.s« 

But  the  King  was  resolved  to  wage 
war  to  the  utmost.  Geofiiy  Ridel, 
Archdeacon  of  Canterbury,  was  king's  pro- 
sent  to  England  with  a  royal  ^^i^^^^^o^- 
proclamation  containing  the  following 
articles  : — I.  Whosoever  shall  bring 
into  the  realm  any  letter  from  the  Pope 
or  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  is 
guilty  of  high  treason.  II.  Whosoever, 
whether  bishop,  clerk,  or  layman,  shall 
observe  the  Interdict,  shall  be  ejected 
from  all  his  chattels,  which  are  confis- 
cate to  the  Crown.  III.  All  clerks 
absent  from  England  shall  return  be- 
fore the  feast  of  St.  Hilary,  on  pain  of 
forfeiture  of  all  their  revenues.  lY. 
ISTo  appeal  is  to  be  made  to  the  Pope  or 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  under  pain 
of  imprisonment  and  forfeiture  of  all 

so  See  his  letter  to  his  emissaries  at  Rome. — 
Giles,  iii.  219;  Bouquet,  401. 


192 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


chattels.  Y.  All  laymen  from  beyond 
seas  are  to  be  searched,  and  if  anything 
be  found  upon  them  contrary  to  the 
King's  honor,  they  are  to  be  imprison- 
ed ;  the  same  with  those  who  cross  to 
the  Continent.  YI.  If  any  clerk  or 
monk  shall  land  in  England  without 
passport  from  the  King,  or  with  any- 
thing contrary  to  his  honor,  he  shall  be 
thrown  into  prison.  YII.  Xo  clerk  or 
monk  may  cross  the  seas  without  the 
King's  passport.  Tlie  same  rule  applied 
to  the  clergy  of  Wales,  who  were  to  be 
expelled  from  all  schools  in  England. 
Lastly,  Yin.  The  sheriffs  were  to  ad- 
minister an  oath  to  all  freemen  through- 
out England,  in  open  court,  that  they 
would  obey  these  royal  mandates,  thus 
abjuring,  it  is  said,  all  obedience  to 
Thomas,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.®^ 

SI  Kicardus  Dorubernensis  apud  Twysden. 
Lord  Lyttelton  has  another  copy,  in  his  appen- 
dix ;  in  that  a  ninth  article  forbade  the  payment 


Thomas  d  JBecJcet.  193 

The  bishops,  however,  declined  the 
oath ;  some  concealed  themselves  in 
their  dioceses.  Becket  addressed  a  tri- 
umphant or  gratulatory  letter  to  his 
suffragans  on  their  firmness.  "We  are 
now  one,  except  that  most  hapless 
Judas,  that  rotten  limb  (Foliot  of  Lon- 
don), which  is  severed  from  us."^^  Ano- 
ther letter  is  addressed  to  the  people  of 
England,  remonstrating  on  their  impious 
abjuration  of  their  pastor,  and  offering 
absolution  to  all  who  had  sworn  through 
compulsion  and  repented  of  their  oath.ss 
The  King  and  the  Primate  thus  con- 
tested the  realm  of  England. 

But  the  Pope  was  not  yet  to  be  in- 
flamed by  Becket's  passions,  ^j^^  p^p^ 
nor  quite  disposed  to  depart 
from  his  temporizing  policy.     John  of 

of  Peter's  Pence  to  Rome ;  it  was  to  be  collect- 
ed and  brought  into  the  exchequer. 

82Epist.  Giles,  iii.  195 ;  Bouquet,  404. 

83  Giles,  iii.  192;  Bouquet,  405. 
17 


194      Thomas  d  Bechet. 


Oxford  was  at  the  court  in  Benevento 
witli  tlie  Archdeacons  of  Eouen  and 
Seez.  From  that  court  returned  the 
Archdeacon  of  Llandaff  and  Eobert  de 
Barre  with  a  commission  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Eouen  and  the  Bishop  of 
IN'evers  to  make  one  more  effort  for  the 
termination  of  the  difficulties.  On  the 
one  hand  they  were  armed  with  powers, 
if  the  King  did  not  accede  to  his  own 
terms  within  forty  days  after  his  citation 
(he  had  offered  a  thousand  marks  as 
compensation  for  all  losses),  to  pro- 
nounce an  interdict  against  his  conti- 
nental dominions  ;  on  the  other,  Becket 
was  exhorted  to  humble  himself  before 
the  King ;  if  Henry  was  inflexible  and 
declined  the  Pope's  offered  absolution 
from  his  oath,  to  accept  the  Jdss  of 
peace  from  the  King's  son.  The  King 
was  urged  to  abolish  in  due  time  the 
impious  and  obnoxious  Customs.  And 
to  these  prelates  was  likewise  intrusted 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


195 


autliority  to  absolve  the  refractory 
Bishops  of  London  and  Salisbury.^ 
This,  however,  was  not  the  only  object 
of  Henry's  new  embassy  to  the  Pope. 
He  had  long  determined  on  the  corona- 
tion of  his  eldest  son ;  it  had  been 
delayed  for  various  reasons.  He  seized 
this  opportunity  of  reviving  a  design 
which  would  be  as  well  humiliating  to 
Eecket  as  also  of  great  moment  in  case 
the  person  of  the  King  should  be  struck 
by  the  thunder  of  excommunication. 
The  coronation  of  the  King  of  England 
was  the  undoubted  prerogative  of  the 
Archbishops  of  Canterbury,  which  had 
never  been  invaded  without  sufficient 
cause,  and  Becket  was  the  last  man 
tamely  to  surrender  so  important  a  right 
of  his  see.  John  of  Oxford  w^as  to 
exert  every  means  (what  those  means 
were  may  be  conjectured  rather  than 
proved)  to  obtain  the  papal  permission 
84  Dated  February  12,  1170. 


196      Thomas  d  BecTcet. 

for  tlie  Archbisliop  of  York  to  officiate 
at  that  august  ceremony. 

The  absolution  of  the  Bishops  of  Lon- 
don and  Salisbury  was  an  astounding 
blow  to  Becket.  He  tried  to  impede  it 
by  calling  in  question  the  power  of  the 
archbishop  to  pronounce  it  without  the 
presence  of  his  colleague.  Tlie  arch- 
bishop disregarded  his  remonstrance, 
and  Becket' s  sentence  was  thus  anuUed 
by  the  authority  of  the  Pope.  Eumors 
at  the  same  time  began  to  spread  that 
the  Pope  had  granted  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York  power  to  proceed  to  the 
coronation.  Becket's  fury  burst  all 
bounds.  He  wrote  to  the  Cardinal 
Albert  and  to  Gratian :  "In  the  court 
of  Pome,  now  as  ever,  Christ  is  crucifi- 
ed and  Barabbas  released.  The  miser- 
able and  blameless  exiles  are  condemn- 
ed, the  sacrilegious,  the  homicides,  the 
impenitent  thieves  are  absolved,  those 
whom  Peter  himself  declares  that  in  his 


Thomas  a  JBecTcet.  197 

own  chair  (the  world  protesting  against 
it)  lie  would  have  no  power  to  absolve.®^ 
Henceforth  I  commit  mj  cause  to  God 
— God  alone  can  find  a  remedy.  Let 
those  appeal  to  Rome  who  triumph 
over  the  innocent  and  the  godly,  and 
return  glorying  in  the  ruin  of  the 
Church.  For  me  I  am  ready  to  die." 
Becket's  fellow  exiles  addressed  the 
Cardinal  Albert,  denouncing  in  vehe- 
ment lano^ua2:e  the  avarice  of  the  court 
of  Rome,  by  which  they  were  brought 
to  support  the  robbers  of  the  Church. 
It  is  no  longer  King  Henry  alone  who 

85  Epist.  Giles,  iii.  96  ;  Bouquet,  416  ;  Giles, 

ill.  108;  Bouquet,  419.     "Sed  pro  ea  mori 

parati  sumus."     He  adds:   "  Insurgant  qui 

voluerint  cardinales,  arment  non  modo  regem 

Anglise,  sed  totum,  si  possent  orbem  in  pemi- 

ciem  nostrara  .   .  ,    Utinam  via  Romana  non 

gratis  peremisset  tot  miseros  innocentes.  Quis 

de  cetero  audebit  illi  regi  registere  quern  ecclesia 

Eomana  tot  triumpMs  animavit,  et  armavit 

exemplo  pernitioso  manante  ad  posteros." 
17* 


198 


Thomas  a  Bechet. 


is  guilty  of  this  six  years'  persecution, 
but  the  Church  of  Rome.^^ 

The  coronation  of  tlie  Prince  by  the 
Archbishop  of  York  took  place  in  the 
Abbey  of  Westminster  on  the  15th 
of  June.^'^  The  assent  of  the  clergy  was 
given  with  that  of  the  laity.  Tlie  Arch- 
bishop of  York  produced  a  papal  brief, 
authorising  him  to  perform  the  cere- 
mony.^^     An  inhibitory  letter,  if  it 

86  "Xec  persuadebitur  mundo,  quod  suasores 
isti  Deum  saperent;  sed  potius  pecuniam,  quam 
immoderato  avaritia^  ardore  sitiunt,  olfecerunt." 
—Giles,  iv.  291 ;  Bouquet,  417. 

87  Becket's  depression  at  this  event  is  dwelt 
upon  in  a  letter  of  Peter  of  Blois  to  John  of 
Salisbury.  Peter  traveled  from  Rome  to  Bo- 
logna with  the  Papal  legates.  From  them  he 
gathered  that  either  Becket  would  soon  be  re- 
conciled to  the  King  or  be  removed  to  another 
patriarchate. — Epist.  xxii.  apud  Giles,  i.  p.  84. 

8S  Dr.  Lingard  holds  this  letter,  printed  by 
Lord  Lyttelton,  and  which  he  admits  was  pro- 
duced, to  have  been  a  forgery.  If  it  was,  it 
was  a  most  audacious  one ;  and  a  most  flagrant 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  199 

readied  England,  only  came  into  the 
King's  hand,  and  was  suppressed ;  no 
one,  in  fact  (as  the  production  of  such 
papal  letter,  as  well  as  Becket's  protest 
to  the  archbishop  and  to  the  bishops 

insult  to  the  Pope,  whom  Henry  was  even  now 
endeavoring  to  propitiate  through  the  Lombard 
Republics  and  the  Emperor  of  the  East  (see 
Giles,  iv.  10).  It  is  remarkable,  too,  that 
though  the  Pope  declares  that  this  coronation, 
contrary  to  his  prohibition  (Giles,  iv.  30),  is  not 
to  be  taken  as  a  precedent,  he  has  no  word  of 
the  forgery.  Nor  do  I  find  any  contemporary 
assertion  of  its  spuriousness.  Becket,  indeed, 
in  his  account  of  the  last  interview  with  the 
King,  only  mentions  the  general  permission 
granted  by  the  Pope  at  an  early  period  of  the 
reign  ;  and  argues  as  if  this  were  the  only  per- 
mission. Is  it  possible  that  a  special  permis- 
sion to  York  to  act  was  craftUy  interpolated 
into  the  general  permission  ?  But  the  trick  may 
have  been  on  the  side  of  the  Pope,  now  grant- 
ing, now  nullifying  his  own  grants  by  inhibition. 
Bouquet  is  strong  agaiust  Baronius  (as  on  other 
points)  upon  Alexander's  duplicity. — p.  434. 


200 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


collectively  and  severally,  was  by  the 
royal  proclamation  liigli  treason  or  at 
least  a  misdemeanor)  would  dare  to 
produce  them. 

The  estrangement  seemed  now  com- 
plete, the  reconciliation  more  remote 
than  ever.  The  Archbishop  of  Eonen 
and  the  Bishop  of  Kevers,  though  nrged 
to  immediate  action  by  Becket  and  even 
by  the  Pope,  admitted  delay  after  delay, 
first  for  the  voyage  of  the  King  to  Eng- 
land, and  secondly  for  his  return  to 
Kormandy.  Becket  seemed  more  and 
more  desperate,  the  King  more  and  more 
resolute.  Even  after  the  coronation,  it 
should  seem,  Becket  wrote  to  Roger  of 
York,^^  to  Henry  of  Worcester,  and 
even  to  Eoliot  of  London,  to  publish 
the  Interdict  in  their  dioceses.  The 
latter  was  a  virtual  acknowledgment  of 
the  legality  of  his  absolution,  which  in 
a  long  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  I^evers 

89  Giles,  iii.  229. 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


201 


he  had  contested  but  tlie  Interdict 
still  huno-  over  the  Kin^:  and  the  realm : 
the  fidelity  of  the  clergy  was  precarious. 

The  reconciliation  at  last  was  so  sud- 
den as  to  take  the  world  by  surprise. 
The  clue  to  this  is  found  in  Fitz-Stephen. 
Some  one  had  suggested  by  word  or  by 
writing  to  the  King  that  the  Primate 
would  be  less  dangerous  within  than 
without  the  realm.^^  The  hint  flashed 
conviction  on  the  King's  mind.  The 
two  Kings  had  aj^pointed  an  interview 
at  Fretteville,  between  Chartres  and 
Treaty  of  Tours.  The  Archbishop  of  Sens 
Fretteviue.  prevailed  on  Becket  to  l^e,  un- 
summoned,  in  the  neighborhood.  Some 
days  after  the  King  seemed  persuaded 
by  the  Archbishops  of  Sens  and  Eouen 

90  Giles,  iii.  302. 

91  "Dictum  fuit  aliquem  dixisse  vel  scripsisse 
regi  Anglorum  de  xVrchepiscopo  ut  quid  tenetur 
exclusus  ?  melius  tenebitur  inclusus  quam  exclu- 
sus.   Satisque  dictum  fuit  intelligenti." — p.  272. 


i      202      Thomas  d  Bechet. 


and  the  Bishop  of  Xevers  to  hold  a  con- 
ference with  Becket.^"^  As  soon  as  thej 
drew  near  the  King  rode  iip,  uncovered 
his  liead,  and  saluted  the  Prelate  with 
frank  courtesy,  and  after  a  short  con- 
versation between  the  two  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Sens,  the  King  withdrew 
apart  with  Becket.  Their  conference 
was  so  long  as  to  try  the  patience  of 
the  spectators,  so  familiar  that  it  might 
seem  there  had  never  been  discord  be- 
tween them.  Becket  took  a  moderate 
tone ;  by  his  own  account  he  laid  the 
faults  of  the  King  entii'ely  on  his  evil 
counselors.  After  a  gentle  admonition 
to  the  King  on  his  sins,  he  urged  him 
to  make  restitution  to  the  see  of  Can- 
terbury. He  dwelt  strongly  on  the 
late  usurpation  on  the  rights  of  the  pri- 
macy, on  the  coronation  of  the  King's 
son.  Henry  alleged  the  state  of  the 
kingdom  and  the  necessity  of  the  meas- 
92  Giles,  iv.  30 ;  Bouquet,  436. 


Thomas  a  Bechet.  203 

ure;  lie  promised  that  as  his  son's 
queen,  the  daughter  of  the  King  of 
France,  was  also  to  be  crowned,  that 
ceremony  should  be  performed  by 
Becket,  and  that  his  son  should  again 
receive  his  crown  from  the  hands  of  the 
Primate. 

At  the  close  of  the  interview  Becket 
sprung  from  his  horse  and  threw  him- 
self at  the  King's  feet.  The  King  leap- 
ed down,  and  holding  his  stirrup  com- 
pelled the  Primate  to  mount  his  horse 
again.  In  the  most  friendly  terms  he 
expressed  his  full  reconciliation  not 
only  to  Becket  himself,  but  to  the 
wondering  and  delighted  multitude.  | 
There  seemed  an  understanding  on  both  | 
sides  to  suppress  all  points  which  might 
lead  to  disagreement.  The  King  did 
not  dare  (so  Becket  writes  triumphantly 
to  the  Pope)  to  mutter  one  word  about 
the  Customs.^^    Becket  was  equally 

93  "Xam  (le  consTietndinibns  qnas  tanta  per- 


204 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


prudent,  tliougli  he  took  care  that  his 
submission  should  be  so  vaguely  word- 
ed as  to  be  drawn  into  no  dangerous 
concession  on  his  part.  He  abstained, 
too,  from  all  other  perilous  topics  ;  he 
left  undecided  the  amount  of  satisfac- 
tion to  the  church  of  Canterbury  ;  and 
July,  on  these  general  terms  he  and  the 
partners  of  his  exile  were  formally  re- 
ceived into  the  King's  grace. 

If  the  King  was  humiliated  by  this 
quiet  and  sudden  reconcilement  with 
the  imperious  prelate,  to  outward  ap- 
pearance at  least  he  concealed  his  humi- 
liation by  his  noble  and  kingly  manner. 
If  he  submitted  to  the  spiritual  reproof 
of  the  prelate,  he  condescended  to  re- 

vicacid  vindicare  consueverat  nec  mutire  prse- 
sumpsit."  Becket  was  as  mute.  The  issue  of 
the  quarrel  seems  entirely  changed.  The  Con- 
stitutions of  Clarendon  recede,  the  right  of  coro- 
nation occupies  the  chief  place. — See  the  long 
letter,  Giles,  65. 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


205 


ceive  into  his  favor  his  refractory  sub- 
ject. Each  maintained  prudent  silence 
on  all  points  in  dispute.  Ilemy  receiv- 
ed, but  he  also  granted  pardon.  If  his 
concession  was  really  extorted  by  fear, 
not  from  policy,  compassion  for  Becket's 
six  years'  exile  might  seem  not  without 
influence.  K  Henry  did  not  allude  to 
the  Customs,  he  did  not  annul  them  ; 
they  were  still  the  law  of  the  land.  The 
kiss  of  peace  was  eluded  by  a  vague 
promise.  Becket  made  a  merit  of  not 
driving  the  King  to  perjury,  but  he 
skillfully  avoided  this  trying  test  of  the 
King's  sincerity. 

But  Becket's  revenge  must  be  satisfi- 
ed with  other  victims.  If  the  Becket's 
worldly  King  could  forget  the  yengeance. 
rancor  of  this  long  animosity,  it  was 
not  so  easily  appeased  in  the  breast  of 
the  Christian  Prelate.  Ko  doubt  ven- 
geance disguised  itself  to  Becket's  mind 
as  the  loftv  and  rightful  assertion  of 

18*' 


206 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


spiritual  aiithoritj.  The  opposing  pre- 
lates must  be  at  his  feet,  even  under  his 
feet.  The  first  thought  of  his  partisans 
was  not  his  return  to  England  with  a  gen- 
erous amnesty  of  all  wrongs,  or  a  gentle 
reconciliation  of  the  whole  clergy,  but 
the  condign  punishment  of  those  who 
had  so  long  been  the  counselors  of  the 
King,  and  had  so  recently  officiated  in 
the  coronation  of  his  son. 

The  court  of  Home  did  not  refuse  to 
enter  into  these  views,  to  visit  the 
ofi*ence  of  those  disloyal  bishoj)S  who 
had  betrayed  the  interests  and  com- 
promised the  high  principles  of  church- 
men.^^ It  was  presumed  that  the  King 
would  not  risk  a  peace  so  hardly  gained 
for  his  obsequious  prelates.  Tlie  lay 
adherents  of  the  King,  even  the  plun- 

94Huinbold  Bishop  of  Ostia  advised  the  con- 
fining the  triumph  to  the  depression  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  York  and  the  excommunication  of 
the  Bishops.— Giles,  vi.  129  ;  Bouquet,  443. 


Thomas  d  Becket.  207 


derers  of  Cliurcli  property  were  spared, 
some  ecclesiastics  about  liis  person, 
John  of  Oxford  himself  es-  Dated  sept.  lo. 
caped  censure:  but  Pope  Alexander 
sent  the  decree  of  suspension  against 
the  Archbishop  of  York,  and  renewed 
the  excommunication  of  London  and 
Salisbury,  with  whom  were  joined  the 
Archdeacon  of  Canterbury  and  the 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  as  guilty  of  special 
violation  of  their  allegiance  to  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  the  Bishop  of  St. 
Asaph,  and  some  others.  Becket  him- 
self saw  the  policy  of  altogether  separ- 
ating the  cause  of  the  bishops  from  that 
of  the  King.  He  requested  that  some 
expressions  relating  to  the  King's  ex- 
cesses, and  condemnatory  of  the  bishops 
for  swearing  to  the  Customs,  should  be 
suppressed ;  and  the  excommunication 
grounded  entirely  on  their  usurpation 
of  the  rio-ht  of  crownino-  the  Kino:.^^ 
95  "  Licet  ei  (regi  sc.)  peperceritis,  dissimu- 


208 


Thorn  as  d  Beclcet. 


About  four  inontlis  elapsed  between 
tlie  treaty  of  Fretteville  and  the  return 
of  Becket  to  England.  Tliey  were  oc- 
cupied by  these  negotiations  at  Rome, 
Yeroli,  and  Ferentino ;  by  discussions 
with  the  Iving,  who  was  attacked  during 
this  period  with  a  dangerous  illness; 
and  by  the  mission  of  some  of  Becket's 
officers  to  resume  the  estates  of  the  see. 
Interview  Bcckct  had  two  pcrsoual  inter- 
views  with  the  King:  the  first 
was  at  Tours,  where,  as  he  was  now  in 
the  King's  dominions,  he  endeavored 
to  obtain  the  kiss  of  peace.  Tlie  Arch- 
bishop hoped  to  betray  Henry  into  this 
favor  during  the  celebration  of  the  mass, 
in  which  it  might  seem  only  a  part  of 
the  service.^^  Henry  was  on  his  guard, 
and  ordered  the  mass  for  the  dead,  in 

lare  non  audetis  excessus  et  crimina  sacerdo- 
tum."    This  letter  is  a  curious  revelation  of  the 
arrogance  and  subtlety  of  Becket. — Giles,  iii.  77. 
96  It  is  called  the  Pax. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


209 


which  the  benediction  is  not  pronounced. 
The  King  had  received  Becket  fairly ; 
they  parted  not  without  ill-concealed 
estrangement.  At  the  second  meeting 
the  King  seemed  more  friendly ;  he  went 
so  far  as  to  say,  "  Why  resist  my  wishes  ? 
I  would  place  everything  in  your  hands." 
Becket,  in  his  own  words,  bethought 
him  of  the  tempter,  "  All  these  things 
will  I  give  unto  thee,  if  thou  wilt  fall 
down  and  worship  me." 

The  King  had  written  to  his  son  in 
England  that  the  see  of  Canterbury 
should  be  restored  to  Becket,  as  it  was 
three  months  before  his  exile.  But 
there  were  two  strong  j^arties  hostile  to 
Becket :  the  King's  officers  who  held  in 
sequestration  the  estates  of  the  see,  and 
seem  to  have  especially  coveted  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  Michaelmas  rents ;  and  with 
these  some  of  the  fierce  warrior  nobles, 
who  held  lands  or  castles  which  were 
claimed  as  possessions  of  the  Church 

18* 


210 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


of  Canterbiiiy.  Eaudiilph  De  Broc, 
Ms  old  inveterate  enemv,  was  deter- 
mined not  to  surrender  his  castle  of 
Saltwood.  It  was  reported  to  Becket, 
by  Becket  represented  to  the  King,  that 
De  Broc  had  sworn  that  he  would  have 
Becket's  life  before  he  had  eaten  a  loaf 
of  bread  in  England.  The  castle  of  Eo- 
chester  was  held  on  the  same  doubtful 
title  by  one  of  his  enemies.  The  second 
party  was  that  of  the  bishops,  which 
was  powerful,  with  a  considerable  body 
of  the  clergy  and  laity.  They  had  suffi- 
cient influence  to  urge  the  King's  offi- 
cers to  take  the  strongest  measures,  lest 
the  Papal  letters  of  excommunication 
should  be  introduced  into  the  kingdom. 

It  is  perhaps  vain  to  conjecture,  how 
far,  if  Becket  had  returned  to  England 
in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  forgiveness, 
and  forbearance,  not  wielding  the  thun- 
ders of  excommunication,  nor  determin- 
ed to  trample  on  his  adversaries,  and  to 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


211 


exact  the  utmost  even  of  his  doubtful 
rights,  he  might  have  resumed  his  see, 
and  gradually  won  back  the  favor  of 
the  King,  the  respect  and  love  of  the 
whole  hierarchy,  and  all  the  legitimate 
possessions  of  his  church.  But  he  came 
not  in  peace,  nor  was  he  received  in 
peace.^^  It  was  not  the  Arch-  Becket  pre- 
bishop  of  Rouen,  as  he  had  ?eSn .^'^ 
hoped,  but  his  old  enemy  John  of  Ox- 
ford, who  was  commanded  by  the  King 
to  accompany  him,  and  reinstate  him 
in  his  see.  The  King  might  allege  that 
one  so  much  in  the  royal  confidence 
was  the  best  protector  of  the  Arch- 
bishop. The  money  which  had  been 
promised  for  his  voyage  was  not  paid  ; 

9'^  Becket  disclaims  vengeance :  "  Neque  hoc 
dicimus,  Deo  teste,  vindictam  expetentes,  qimm 
scriptiim  esse  noverimus,  non  quosres  ultionem 
....  sed  ut  ecclesia  correctionis  exemplo  possit 
per  Dei  gratiam  in  posternm  roborare,  et  poena 
paucorum  multos  aDdificare." — Giles,  iii.  76. 


212 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


lie  was  forced  to  borrow  £300  of  the 
Arclibishop  of  Eoiien.  He  went,  as  lie 
felt,  or  affected  to  feel,  with  death  be- 
fore his  eyes,  yet  nothing  should  now 
separate  him  from  his  long-divided  flock. 
Before  his  embarkation  at  Whitsand 
in  Flanders,  he  received  intelligence 
that  the  shores  were  watched  by  his 
enemies,  it  was  said  with  designs  on  his 
life,^^  but  assuredly  with  the  determi- 
nation of  making  a  rigid  search  for  the 
letters  of  excommunication.^^  To  secure 
Letters  of  "tlic  safc  Carriage  ©f  one  of  these 
cat?o?^enT  pcrllous  documcuts,  the  suspen- 

before  km.  g- Archbishop  of  Tork, 

it  was  intrusted  to  a  nun  named  Idonea, 
whom  he  exhorts,  like  another  Judith, 

95  See  Becket's  account. — Giles,  iii.  p.  81. 

99  Lambeth  says :  "  Visnm  est  aiitem  nonnul- 
lis,  quod  incircumspecte  literarum  vindicta  post 
pacem  usns  est,  que  tantum  pacts  desperatione 
fuerint  datmP — p.  116.  Compare  pp.  119 
and  152. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


213 


to  this  liolj  act,  and  promises  her  as 
her  reward  the  remission  of  her  sins.^^^ 
Other  contraband  letters  were  conveyed 
across  the  Channel  by  unknown  hands, 
and  were  delivered  to  the  bishops  before 
Becket's  landing. 

The  prelates  of  York  and  London 
were  at  Canterbury  when  they  received 
these  Papal  letters.  When  the  fulmi- 
nating instruments  were  read  before 
them,  in  which  was  this  passage,  we 
will  fill  your  faces  with  ignominy," 
their  countenances  fell.  They  sent  mes- 
sengers to  complain  to  Becket,  that  he 
came  not  in  peace,  but  in  fire  and  flame, 
trampling  his  brother  bishops  under  his 
feet,  and  making  their  necks  his  foot- 
stool ;  that  he  had  condemned  them  un- 

100  Lord  Lytteltoii  has  drawn  an  inference  from 
these  words  unfavorable  to  the  purity  of  Ido- 
nea's  former  life ;  and  certainly  the  examples  of 
the  Magdalene  and  the  woman  of  Egypt,  if  this 
be  not  the  case,  Avere  unhappily  chosen. 


214 


Thomas  d  B  echet . 


cited,  imlieard,  unjudged.  "There  is 
no  peace,"  Becket  sterulv  replied,  '*  but 
to  men  of  good  will.''  ^  It  was  said  that 
London  was  disposed  to  humble  himself 
before  Becket ;  but  york,^  trusting  in 
his  wealth,  boasted  that  he  had  in  his 
power  the  Pope,  the  King,  and  all  their 
courts. 

Instead  of  the  port  of  Dover,  where 
he  was  expected,  Becket's  vessel,  with 
Lands  at   tlic  abchicpiscopal  banner  dis- 

Sandwich.      ,         ,  ,  o  i 

Dec.  1.  played,  cast  anchor  at  band- 
wich.  Soon  after  his  landing,  appeared 
in  arms  the  Sheriff  of  Kent,  Randulph 
de  Broc,  and  others  of  his  enemies. 
They  searched  his  baggage,  fiercely  de- 
manded that  he  should  absolve  the 
bishops,  and  endeavored  to  force  the 
Archdeacon  of  Sens,  a  foreign  ecclesias- 
tic, to  take  an  oath  to  keep  the  peace 

1  Fitz-Stephen,  pp.  281,  284. 

2  Becket  calls  York  his  ancient  enemy :  "  Lu- 
cifer ponens  sedem  suum  in  aquilone/' 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


215 


of  the  realm.  John  of  Oxford  was 
shocked,  and  repressed  their  violence. 
On  his  way  to  Canterbury  the  conntry 
clergy  came  forth  with  their  flocks  to 
meet  him  ;  they  strewed  their  garments 
in  his  way,  chanting,  "  Blessed  is  he 
that  Cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
Arrived  at  Canterbury,  he  rode  At  can- 
at  once  to  the  church  with  avast 
procession  of  clergy,  amid  the  ringing 
of  the  bells,  and  the  chanting  of  music. 
He  took  his  archiepiscopal  throne,  and 
afterwards  preached  on  the  text,  "  Here 
we  have  no  abiding  city."  The  next 
morning  came  again  the  SherilF of  Kent, 
with  Randulph  de  Broc,  and  the  mes- 
sengers of  the  bishops,  demanding  their 
absolution.^  Becket  evaded  the  ques- 
tion by  asserting  that  the  Excommuni- 

3  Becket  accuses  the  bishops  of  thirsting  for 
his  blood !  "  Let  them  drink  it."  But  this  was 
a  phrase  which  he  uses  on  all  occasions,  even 
to  William  of  Pavia. 


216 


Thomas  a  BecJcet. 


cation  was  not  pronounced  by  him,  but 
b  J  his  superior  the  Pope  ;  that  he  had 
no  power  to  abrogate  the  sentence. 
This  declaration  was  dii*ectly  at  issue 
with  the  bull  of  excommunication:  if 
the  bishops  gave  satisfaction  to  the 
Ai'chbishop,  he  had  power  to  act  on 
behalf  of  the  Pope.^  But  to  the  satis- 
faction which,  according  to  one  account, 
he  did  demand,  that  they  should  stand 
a  public  trial,  in  other  words  place 
themselves  at  his  mercy,  they  would 
not,  and  hardly  could  submit.  They 
set  out  immediately  to  the  King  in 
Xormandy. 

The  restless  Primate  was  determined 
to  keep  alive  the  popular  fervor,  enthu- 
siastically, almost  fanatically,  on  his 

4  "  Si  vero  ita  eidem  ArcMepiscopo  et  Can- 
tuarensi  Ecclesiae  satisfacere  inveniretis,  nt  poe- 
nam  istam  ipse  videat  relaxandam,  vice  nostra 
per  ilium  volumiis  adimpleri.'" — Apud  Bouquet, 
p.  461. 


Thomas  a  Bechet.  217 

side.  On  a  pretext  of  a  visit  to  Goes  to 
the  Yoimg  King  at  Woodstock, 
to  offer  him  the  present  of  three  beau- 
tiful horses,  he  set  forth  on  a  stately 
progress.  Wherever  he  went  he  was  • 
received  with  acclamations  and  prayers 
for  his  blessings  bv  the  clergy  and  the 
people.  In  Rochester  he  was  enter- 
tained, by  the  Bishop  with  great  cere- 
mony. In  London  there  was  the  same 
excitement :  he  was  received  in  the 
palace  by  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  in 
Southwark.  Even  there  he  scattered 
some  excommunications.^  Tlie  Court 
took  alarm,  and  sent  orders  to  the  pre- 
late to  return  to  his  diocese.  Becket 
obeyed,  but  alleged  as  the  cause  of  his 
obedience,  not  the  royal  command,  but 
his  own  desire  to  celebrate  the  festival 
of  Christmas  in  his  metropolitan  church. 

5  "  Ipse  tamen  Londonias  adiens,  et  ibi  mis- 
sarum  solenniis  celebratis,  quosdam  excommu- 
nicavit." — Passio,  iii.  p.  154. 
19 


218 


Til  omas  d  B  ec'ket . 


The  week  passed  in  holding  sittings  in 
his  court,  where  he  acted  with  his  nsual 
promptitude,  vigor,  and  resokition 
against  the  intruders  into  livings,  and 
upon  the  encroachments  on  his  estates ; 
and  in  devotions  most  fervent,  mortifi- 
cations most  austere.® 

His  rude  enemies  committed  in  the 
mean  time  all  kinds  of  petty  annoy- 
ances, which  he  had  not  the  loftiness 
to  disdain.  Eandulph  de  Broc  seized  a 
vessel  laden  with  rich  wine  for  his  use, 
and  imprisoned  the  sailors  in  Pevensey 
Castle.  An  order  from  the  court  com- 
j)elled  him  to  release  ship  and  crew. 

6  Since  this  passage  was  written  an  excellent 
and  elaborate  paper  has  appeared  in  the  Quar- 
terly Review,  full  of  local  knowledge.  I  recog- 
nize the  hand  of  a  friend  from  whom  great 
things  may  be  expected.  I  find,  I  think,  nothing 
in  which  we  disagree,  though  that  account, 
having  more  ample  space,  is  more  particular 
than  mine.  (Reprinted  in  Memorials  of  Canter- 
bury, by  Rev.  A.  P.  Stanley.) 


Thomas  d  BecTcet. 


219 


Tliej  robbed  tbe  people  wbo  carried  his 
provisions,  broke  into  bis  park,  bunted 
bis  deer,  beat  his  retainers ;  and,  at  the 
instigation  of  Randulph's  bi  other,  Ro- 
bert de  Broc,  a  ruffian,  a  renegade  monk, 
cut  off  the  tail  of  one  of  his  state  horses. 

On  Christmas  day  Becket  preached 
on  the  appropriate  text,  "  Peace  on 
earth,  good  will  towards  men."  The 
sermon  agreed  ill  w^ith  the  text.  He 
spoke  of  one  of  his  predecessors,  St.  Al- 
phege,  who  had  suffered  martyrdom. 
"  There  may  soon  be  a  second."  He 
then  burst  out  into  a  fierce,  impetuous, 
terrible  tone,  arraigned  the  courtiers, 
and  closed  with  a  fulminating  excom- 
munication against  Nigel  de  Sackville, 
who  had  refused  to  give  up  a  benefice 
into  which,  in  Becket's  judgment,  he 
had  intruded,  and  against  Randulph 
and  Robert  de  Broc.  The  maimed 
horse  was  not  forgotten.  He  renewed 
in  •■  the  most  vehement  language  the 


220 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


censure  on  tlie  bishops,  dashed  the  can- 
dle on  the  j^avement  in  token  of  their 
utter  extinction,  and  then  proceeded  to 
the  mass  at  the  altar.*^ 

In  the  mean  time  the  excommunicated 
The  bishops  prelates  had  souf?ht  the  Ivino^ 

with  the       t      .  .    -  _       1        -,  -r, 

King.  in  the  neighborhood  oi  Jiayeux ; 
they  implored  his  protection  for  them- 
selves and  the  clergy  of  the  realm.  "  K 
all  are  to  be  visited  by  spiritual  cen- 
sures," said  the  King,  "  who  officiated 
at  the  coronation  of  my  son,  by  the  eyes 
of  God,  I  am  equally  guilty."  The  whole 
conduct  of  Becket  since  his  return  was 
detailed,  and  no  doubt  deeply  darkened 
by  the  hostility  of  his  adversaries.  All 
had  been  done  with  an  insolent  and  se- 
ditious design  of  alienating  the  affec- 
tions of  the  people  from  the  King. 
Henry  demanded  counsel  of  the  pre- 
lates ;  they  declared  themselves  unable 
to  give  it.  But  one  incautiously  said, 
'  Fitz-Stephen,  De  Bosham,  Grim,  in  loci 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  221 

"  So  long  as  Tliomas  lives,  jou  will 
never  be  at  peace."    Tlie  King  broke 
i     out  into  one  of  his  terrible  constitutional 
I     fits  of  passion ;  and  at  length  let  fall  the 
fatal  words,  "  Have  I  none  of  my  thank- 
j     less  and  cowardly  courtiers  who  will 
i     relieve  me  from  the  insults  of  one  low- 
born and  turbulent  priest  ? " 

Tliese  words  were  not  likely  to  fall 
unheard  on  the  ears  of  fierce,  ^^^^  king's 
and  warlike  men,  reckless  of  ^^'^^ 
bloodshed,  possessed  with  a  strong  sense 
of  their  feudal  allegiance,  and  eager  to 
secure  to  themselves  the  reward  of  des- 
perate service.  Four  knights,  chamber- 
j  lains  of  the  King,  Reginald  Fitz-Urse, 
i  William  de  Tracy,  Hugh  de  Moreville, 
and  Reginald  Brito,  disappeared  from 
the  court.^  On  the  morrow,  when  a 
grave  council  was  held,  some  barons 

8  See,  on  the  former  history  of  these  knights, 

Quarterly  Review,  vol.  xciii.  p.  355.  The  writer 

\       has  industriously  traced  out  all  that  can  be 
19* 


222 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


are  said,  even  there,  to  have  advised 
the  death  of  Becket.  Milder  measures 
were  adopted :  the  Earl  of  Mandeville 
was  sent  off  with  orders  to  arrest  the 
Primate ;  and  as  the  disappearance  of 
these  four  knights  could  not  be  unmark- 
ed, to  stop  them  in  the  course  of  any 
unauthorized  enterprise. 

But  murder  travels  faster  than  justice 
or  mercy.  They  were  almost  already 
on  the  shores  of  England.  It  is  said 
that  they  met  in  Saltwood  Castle.  On 
the  28th  of  December,  having,  by  the 
aid  of  Randulph  de  Broc,  collected 
some  troops  in  the  streets  of  Canter- 
bury, they  took  up  their  quarters  with 
Clarembold,  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's. 

The  assassination  of  Becket  has  some- 
thing appalling,  with  all  its  terrible 
circumstances  seen  in  the  remote  past. 
What  was  it  in  its  own  age  ?  Tlie  most 

kftown,  much  which  was  rumored  about  these 
men. 


Thomas  a  Bechet. 


223 


distinguished  cliiirchman  in  Christen- . 
dom,  the  champion  of  the  great  sacer- 
dotal order,  almost  in  the  hour  of  his 
triumph  over  the  most  powerful  king 
in  Europe ;  a  man,  besides  the  awful 
sanctity  inherent  in  the  person  of  every 
ecclesiastic,  of  most  saintly  holiness.; 
soon  after  the  most  solemn  festival  of 
the  Church,  in  his  own  cathedral,  not 
only  sacrilegiously,  but  cruelly  mur- 
dered, with  every  mark  of  hatred  and 
insult.  Becket  had  all  the  dauntless- 
ness,  none  of  the  meekness  of  the 
martyr;  but  while  his  dauntlessness 
would  command  boundless  admira- 
tion, few,  if  any,  would  seek  the 
more  genuine  sign  of  Christian  mar- 
tyrdom. 

The  four  knights  do  not  seem  to  have 
delib  er at ely  determined  on  their  The  knights 
proceedings,  or  to  have  resolved,  Becket. 
except  in  extremity,  on  the  murder.  They 
entered,  but  unarmed,  the  outer  cham- 


224 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


ber.^  The  Archbishop  had  just  dined, 
and  withdrawn  from  the  hall.  They 
were  offered  food,  as  was  the  usage ; 
they  declined,  thirsting,  says  one  of  the 
biographers,  for  blood.  Tlie  Archbisliop 
obeyed  the  summons  to  hear  a  messa£:e 
from  the  King ;  they  were  admitted  to 
his  presence.  As  they  entered,  there 
was  no  salutation  on  either  side,  till  the 
Primate  having  surveyed,  perhaps  re- 
cognized them,  moved  to  them  with 
cold  courtesy.  Fitz-Urse  was  the  spokes- 
man in  the  fierce  altercation  which  en- 
sued. Becket  replied  with  haughty 
firmness.  Fitz-Urse  began  by  reproach- 
ing him  with  his  ingratitude  and  sedi- 
tious disloyalty  in  opposing  the  coro- 
nation of  the  King's  son,  and  command- 
ed him,  in  instant  obedience  to  the 
King,  to  absolve  the  prelates.  Becket 
protested  that  so  far  from  wishing  to 

9  Tuesday,  Dec.  29.  See,  on  the  fatality  of 
Tuesday  in  Backet's  life,  Q.  Pw.  p.  357. 


Thomas  a  Bechet. 


225 


diminish  the  power  of  the  King's  son, 
he  would  have  given  him  three  crowns 
and  the  most  splendid  realm.  For  the 
excommunicated  bishops  he  persisted 
in  his  usual  evasion  that  they  had  been 
suspended  by  the  Pope,  by  the  Pope 
alone  could  they  be  absolved ;  nor  had 
they  yet  offered  proper  satisfaction. 
"  It  is  the  King's  comniand,"  spake 
Fitz-Urse,  "  that  you  and  the  rest  of 
your  disloyal  followers  leave  the  king- 
dom."^^  u  Jx.  becomes  not  the  King  to 
utter  such  command :  henceforth  no 
power  on  earth  shall  separate  me  from 
my  flock."  "  You  have  presumed  to 
excommunicate,  without  consulting  the 
King,  the  King's  servant's  and  officers."  ^ 
"  Nor  will  I  ever  spare  the  man  who 
violates  the  canons  of  Pome,  or  the 
rights  of  the  Church."  "  From  whom 
do  you  hold  your  archbishopric?" 
"  My  spirituals  from  God  and  the  Pope, 
10  Grim,  p.  71.  Fitz-Stephen. 


226 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


mj  temporals  from  tlie  King."  Do 
jou  not  hold  all  from  the  King?" 
"  Kender  nnto  Csesar  the  things  that 
are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things 
that  are  God's."  "  You  speak  in  peril 
of  jour  life ! "  "  Come  ye  to  murder 
me  ?  I  defy  you,  and  will  meet  you 
front  to  front  in  the  battle  of  the  Lord." 
He  added,  that  some  among  them  had 
sworn  fealty  to  him.  At  this,  it  is  said, 
they  grew  furious,  and  gnashed  with 
their  teeth.  The  prudent  John  of  Salis- 
bury heard  with  regret  this  intemperate 
lano^uaoce  :  "  Would  it  mav  end  well  I  " 
Fitz-Urse  shouted  aloud,  In  the  King's 
name  I  enjoin  you  all,  clerks  and  monks, 
to  arrest  this  man,  till  the  King  shall 
have  done  justice  on  his  body."  They 
rushed  out,  calling  for  their  arms. 

His  friends  had  more  fear  for  Becket 
than  Becket  for  himself.  The  gates 
were  closed  and  barred,  but  presently 
sounds  were  heard  of  those  without, 


Thomas  d  Bechet.  227 

striving  to  break  in.  The  lawless  Ran- 
dnlph  de  Broc  was  liewing  at  the  door 
with  an  axe.  All  around  Becket  was 
the  confusion  of  terror:  he  only  was 
calm.  Again  spoke  John  of  Salisbury 
with  his  cold  prudence — "  Tliou  wilt 
never  take  counsel :  they  seek  thy  life." 
"  I  am  prepared  to  die."  "  We  who 
are  sinners  are  not  so  weary  of  life." 
"  God's  will  be  done."  The  sounds 
without  grew  wilder.  All  around  him 
entreated  Becket  to.  seek  sanctuary  in 
the  church.  He  refused,  whether  from 
religious  reluctance  that  the  holy  place 
should  be  stained  with  his  blood,  or 
from  the  nobler  motive  of  sparing  his 
assassins  this  deep  aggravation  of  their 
crime.  They  urged  that  the  bell  was 
already  tolling  for  vespers.  He  seemed 
to  give  a  reluctant  consent;  but  he 
would  not  move  without  the  dignity  of 
his  crosier  carried  before  him.  Becket 
With  gentle  compulsion  they  half  church. 


228 


Thomas  d  Becket. 


drew,  half  carried  him  through  a  private 
chamber,  they  in  all  the  hasty  agony 
of  terror,  he  striving  to  maintain  his 
solemn  state,  into  the  church.  The  din 
of  the  armed  men  was  ringing  in  the 
cloister.  The  afl'righted  monks  broke 
off  the  service ;  some  hastened  to  close 
the  doors  ;  Becket  commanded  them  to 
desist — "  one  should  be  debarred 
from  entering  the  house  of  God."  John 
of  Salisbury  and  the  rest  fled  and  hid 
themselves  behind  the  altars  and  in 
other  dark  places.  The  Archbishop 
might  have  escaped  into  the  dark  and 
intricate  crypt,  or  into  a  chapel  in  the 
roof.  There  remained  only  the  Canon 
Kobert  (of  Merton),  Fitz-Stephen,  and 
the  faithful  Edward  Grim.  Becket 
stood  between  the  altar  of  St.  Benedict 
and  that  of  the  Yirgin.^^  It  was  thought 
that  Becket  contemplated  taking  his 
11  For  the  accurate  local  description,  see  Quar- 
terly Review,  p.  367. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


229 


seat  on  his  archiepiscopal  throne  near 
the  high  altar. 

Through  the  open  door  of  the  cloister 
came  rushing  in  the  four,  fully  The  murder, 
armed,  some  with  axes  in  their  hands, 
with  two  or  three  wild  followers,  through 
the  dim  and  bewildering  twilight.  The 
knights  shouted  aloud,  "  Where  is  the 
traitor?"  —  ]S"o  answer  came  back. — 
"Where  is  the  Archbishop?"  "Be- 
hold me,  no  traitor,  but  a  priest  of  God ! " 
Another  fierce  and  rapid  altercation 
followed :  they  demanded  the  absolution 
of  the  bishops,  his  own  surrender  to 
the  King's  justice.  They  strove  to  seize 
him  and  to  drag  him  forth  from  the 
church  (even  they  had  awe  of  the  holy 
place),  either  to  kill  him  without,  or  to 
carry  him  in  bonds  to  the  King.  He 
clung  to  the  pillar.  In  the  struggle  he 
grappled  with  De  Tracy,  and  with  des- 
perate strength  dashed  him  on  the  pave- 
ment. His  passion  rose ;  he  called  Fitz- 

20 


I'      230      Thomas  d  B ecket. 

i   

1      Urse  by  a  foul  name,  a  pander.  These 
j      were  almost  liis  last  words  (how  unlike 
j      those  of  Stephen  and  the  greater  than 
i;      Stephen  I)    He  taunted  Fitz-Urse  with 
his  fealty  sworn  to  himself.  "  I  owe  no 
fealty  but  to  my  King  I returned  the 
jl      maddened  soldier,  and  struck  the  first 
ij      blow.     Edward  Grim  interposed  liis 
Ij      arm,  which  was   almost  severed  off. 
I      The  sword  struck  Becket,  but  slightly, 
j       on  the  head.    Becket  received  it  in  an 
attitude  of  prayer — ^*  Lord,  receive  my 
j      spirit,"  with  an  ejaculation  to  the  Saints 
j       of  the  Church.    Blow  followed  blow 
(Tracy  seems  to  have  dealt  the  first 
mortal  wound),  till  all,  unless  perhaps 
i      De  Moreville,  had  wreaked  their  ven- 
geance.   The  last,  that  of  Kichard  de 
Brito,  smote  off  a  piece  of  his  skull, 
j      Hugh  of  Horsea,  their  follower,  a  rene- 
I      gade  priest  surnamed  Mauclerk,  set  his 
!      heel  upon  his  neck,  and  cmshed  out 
^      the  blood  and  brains.    "Away!"  said 


Thomas  d  Beclcet. 


231 


the  brutal  ruffian,  "  it  is  time  that  we 
were  gone."  They  rushed  out  to  phm- 
der  the  archiepiseopal  palace. 

The  mangled  body  was  left  on  the 
pavement ;  and  when  his  affrighted 
followers  ventured  to  approach  The  Body, 
to  perform  their  last  offices,  an  incident 
occurred  which,  however  incongruous, 
is  too  characteristic  to  be  suppressed. 
Amid  their  adoring  awe  at  his  courage 
and  constancy,  their  profound  sorrow 
for  his  loss,  they  broke  out  into  a  rap- 
ture of  wonder  and  delight  on  discover- 
ing not  merely  that  his  whole  body  was 
swathed  in  the  coarsest  sackcloth,  but 
that  his  lower  garments  were  swarming 
with  vermin.  From  that  moment  mira- 
cles began.  Even  the  populace  had 
before  been  divided ;  voices  had  been 
heard  among  the  crowd  denying  him  to 
be  a  martyr ;  he  was  but  the  victim  of 
his  own  obstinacy.^2   The  Archbishop 

13  Grim,  70. 


232      Thomas  d  Becket. 


of  York  even  after  tliis  dared  to  preach, 
tliat  it  was  a  judgment  of  God  against 
Becket — that  "he  perished,  like  Pha- 
raoh, in  his  pride.  "^^  But  the  torrent 
swept  away  at  once  all  this  resistance. 
The  Government  inhibited  the  miracles, 
but  faith  in  miracles  scorns  obedience 
to  human  laws.  The  Passion  of  the 
Mart  jr  Tliomas  was  saddened  and  glori- 
fied every  day  with  new  incidents  of 
its  atrocity,  of  his  holy  firmness,  of 
wonders  wrought  by  his  remains. 

Tlie  horror  of  Becket's  murder  ran 
throughout  Christendom.  At  first,  of 
course,  it  was  attributed  to  Henry's 
Effects  of  toect  orders.  Universal  hatred 
the  murder,  i^raudcd  the  King  of  England 
with  a  kind  of  outlawry,  a  spontaneous 
excommunication.  William  of  Sens, 
though  the  attached  friend  of  Becket, 
probably  does  not  exaggerate  the  pub- 
lic sentiment  when  he  describes  this 

13  John  of  Salisbury.    Bouquet,  619,  620. 


Thomas  d  Beelcet. 


233 


deed  as  surpassing  the  cruelty  of  Herod, 
the  perfidy  of  Julian,  the  sacrilege  of 
the  traitor  Judas.^^ 

It  were  injustice  to  King  Henry  not 
to  suppose  that  with  the  dread  as  to 
the  consequences  of  this  act  must  have 
mingled  some  reminiscences  of  the  gal- 
lant friend  and  companion  of  his  youth 
and  of  the  faithful  minister,  as  well  as 
religious  horror  at  a  cruel  murder,  so 
savagely  and  impiously  executed. He 
shut  himself  for  three  days  in  his  cham- 
ber, obstinately  refused  all  food  and 
comfort,  till  his  attendants  began  to  fear 
for  his  life.  He  issued  orders  for  the 
apprehension  of  the  murderers,^^  and 

1*  Giles,  iv.  162;  Bouquet,  467.  It  was  fit- 
ting that  tlie  day  after  that  of  the  Holy  Inno- 
cents should  be  that  on  which  should  rise  up 
this  new  Herod. 

15  See  the  letter  of  Arnulf  of  Lisieux. — Bou- 
quet, 469. 

16  The  Quarterly  reviewer  has  the  merit  of 
tracing  out  the  extraordinary  fate  of  the  mur- 

20* 


234 


Thomas  d  Be  diet. 


dispatched  envoys  to  the  Pope  to  ex- 
culp>ate  himself  from  all  participation 
or  cognizance  of  the  crime.  His  ambas- 
sadors found  the  Pope  at  Tiisciilum : 
they  were  at  first  sternly  refused  an 
audience.  The  afflicted  and  indignant 
Pope  was  hardly  prevailed  on  to  permit 
the  execrated  name  of  the  King  of  Eng- 
land to  be  uttered  before  him.  The 
cardinals  still  friendly  to  the  Eang  with 
difficulty  obtained  knowledge  of  Alex- 
ander's deteiTaination.  It  was,  on  a 
fixed  day,  to  pronounce  with  the  utmost 

derers.  "  By  a  singular  reciprocity,  the  princi- 
ple for  whicli  Becket  had  contended,  that  priests 
should  not  be  subjected  to  the  secular  courts, 
prevented  the  trial  of  a  layman  for  the  murder 
of  a  priest  by  any  other  than  a  clerical  tribunal." 
Legend  imposes  upon  them  dark  and  romantic 
acts  of  penance ;  history  finds  them  in  high 
places  of  trust  and  honor. — pp.  377,  et  seqq.  I 
may  add  that  John  of  Oxford  five  years  after 
was  Bishop  of  Norwich.  Eidel  too  became 
of  Ely. 


Thomas  d  BecTcet.  235 

solemnit  J,  excomnmnication  against  the 
King  by  name,  and  an  interdict  on  all 
his  dominions,  on  the  Continent  as  well 
as  in  England.  The  ambassadors  hard- 
ly obtained  the  abandonment  of  this 
fearful  purpose,  by  swearing  that  the 
King  would  submit  in  all  things  to  the 
judgment  of  his  Holiness.  With  diffi- 
culty the  terms  of  reconciliation  were 
arranged. 

In  the  Cathedral  of  Avranches  in  Nor- 
mandy, in  the  presence  of  the  Reconcii- 
Cardinals  Theodin  of  Porto,  and  Avranches. 
Albert  the  Chancellor,  Legates  for  that 
especial  purpose,  Henry  swore  on  the 
Gospels  that  he  had  neither  commanded 
nor  desired  the  death  of  Becket ;  that 
it  had  caused  him  sorrow,  not  joy  ;  he 
had  not  grieved  so  deeply  for  the  death 
of  his  father  or  his  mother.^''^  He  stipulat- 
ed— I.  To  maintain  two  hundred  knights 
at  his  own  cost  in  the  Holy  Land.  H. 

i^Diceto,  p.  557. 


236 


Thomas  d  BecTcet. 


To  abrogate  the  Statutes  of  Clarendon, 
and  all  bad  customs  introduced  during 
his  reign.^^  III.  That  he  would  rein- 
vest the  Church  of  Canterbury  in  all  its 
rights  and  possessions,  and  pardon  and 
restore  to  their  estates  all  who  had  in- 
curred his  wrath  in  the  cause  of  the 
Primate.  lY.  If  the  Pope  should  re- 
quire it,  he  would  himself  make  a  cru- 
Ascension    sadc  asraiust  the  Saracens  in 

Day,  ° 

May  22,1172.  Spain.  lu  the  porch  of  the 
church  he  was  reconciled,  but  with  no 
ignominous  ceremony. 

Throughout  the  later  and  the  darker 
part  of  Henry's  reign  the  clergy  took 
care  to  inculcate,  and  the  people  were 
prone  enough  to  believe,  that  all  his 
disasters  and  calamities,  the  rebellion 
of  his  wife  and  of  his  sons,  were  judg- 
ments of  God  for  the  persecution  if  not 

18  This  stipulation,  in  Henry's  view,  canceled 
hardly  any  ;  as  few,  and  these  but  trifling  cus- 
toms, had  been  admitted  during  his  reign. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


237 


tlie  murder  of  the  Martyr  Thomas.  The 
strong  mind  of  Henry  himself,  depress- 
ed by  misfortune  and  by  the  estrange- 
ment of  his  children,  acknowledged 
with  superstitious  awe  the  justice  of 
their  conclusions.  Heaven,  the  Martyr 
in  Heaven,  must  be  appeased  by  a  pub- 
lic humiliating  penance.  The  deeper 
the  degradation  the  more  valuable  the 
atonement.  In  less  than  three  years 
after  his  death  the  King  visited  the 
tomb  of  Becket,  by  this  time  a  canon- 
ized saint,  renowned  not  only  through- 
out England  for  his  wonder-working 
powers,  but  to  the  limits  of  Christen- 
dom. As  soon  as  he  came  near  enough 
to  see  the  towers  of  Canterbury,  Penance  at 
the  King  dismounted  from  his  ^r\AZ^'^' 
horse,  and  for  three  miles  iit4. 
w^alked  w^ith  bare  and  bleeding  feet 
along  the  flinty  road.  The  tomb  of  the 
Saint  was  then  in  the  crypt  beneath 
the  church.    The  King  threw  himself 


238 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


prostrate  before  it.  The  Bisliop  of  Lon- 
don (Foliot)  preached ;  he  declared  to 
the  wondering  multitude  that  on  his 
solemn  oath  the  King  was  entirely  guilt- 
less of  the  murder  of  the  Saint :  but  as 
his  hasty  words  had  been  the  innocent 
cause  of  the  crime,  he  submitted  in 
lowly  obedience  to  the  penance  of  the 
Church.  Tlie  haughty  monarch  then 
prayed  to  be  scourged  by  the  willing 
monks.  From  the  one  end  of  the  church 
to  the  other  each  ecclesiastic  present 
gratified  his  pride,  and  thought  that  he 
performed  his  duty,  by  giving  a  few 
stripes.^^  The  King  passed  calmly 
through  this  rude  discipline,  and  then 
spent  a  night  and  a  day  in  prayers  and 
tears,  imploring  the  intercession  in 
Heaven  of  him  whom,  he  thought  not 
now  on  how  just  grounds,  he  had  pur- 

19  The  scene  is  related  by  all  the  monkish 
chroniclers. — Gervaise,  Diceto,  Brompton,  Ho- 
veden. 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


239 


sued  with  relentless  animosity  on 
earth.20 

Thus  Becket  obtained  by  liis  death 
that  triumph  for  which  he  would  per- 
haps have  struggled  in  vain  through  a 
long  life.  He  was  now  a  Saint,  and  for 
some  centuries  the  most  popular  Saint 
in  England  :  among  the  people,  from  a 
generous  indignation  at  his  barbarous 
murder,  from  the  fame  of  his  austerities 
and  his  charities,  no  doubt  from  admi- 
ration of  his  bold  resistance  to  the  king- 
ly power;  among  the  clergy  as  the 
champion,  the  martyr  of  their  order. 
Even  if  the  clergy  had  had  no  interest 
in  the  miracles  at  the  tomb  of  Becket, 
the  high-strung  faith  of  the  people 
would  have  wrought  them  almost  with- 

20  Peter  of  Blois  was  assured  by  the  two  car- 
dinal legates  of  Henry's  innocence  of  Becket's 
death.  See  this  letter,  which  contains  a  most 
high-flown  eulogy  on  the  transcendent  virtues 
of  Henry.— Epist.  66. 


240 


Thomas  d  Bechet. 


out  suggestion  or  assistance.  Cures 
would  have  been  made  or  imagined ; 
the  latent  powers  of  diseased  or  para- 
lyzed bodies  would  have  been  quicken- 
ed into  action.  Belief,  and  the  fear  of 
disbelieving,  would  have  multiplied 
one  extraordinary  event  into  a  hundred  ; 
fraud  would  be  outbid  by  zeal;  the  in- 
vention of  the  crafty,  even  if  what  may 
seem  invention  was  not  more  often  ig- 
norance and  credulity,  would  be  outrun 
by  the  demands  of  superstition.  There 
is  no  calculating  the  extent  and  effects 
of  these  epidemic  outbursts  of  passionate 
religion.^^ 

Becket  was  indeed  the  martyr  of  the 
Becket     clersTV,  uot  of  the  Church :  of  sa- 

martyr  of  t  A^     -  > 

the  clergy,  ccrdotal  powcr,  not  01  Christi- 
anity; of  a  caste,  not  of  mankind.^^ 

21  On  the  effect  of  the  death,  and  the  imme- 
diate concourse  of  the  people  to  Canterbury, 
Lambeth,  p.  133. 

22  Herbert  de  Bosham,  writing  fourteen  years 


Thomas  d  B echet .  241 

From  beginning  to  end  it  was  a  strife 
for  the  authority,  the  immunities,  the 
possessions  of  the  clergy. The  liberty 
of  the  Church  was  the  exemption  of  the 
clergy  from  law;  the  vindication  of 
their  separate,  exclusive,  distinctive 
existence  from  the  rest  of  mankind.  It 
was  a  sacrifice  to  the  deified  self;  not 
the  individual  self,  but  self  as  the  centre 
and  representative  of  a  great  corpora- 
tion. Here  and  there  in  the  long  full 
correspondence  there  is  some  slight  allu- 

after  Becket's  death,  declares  him  among  the 
most  undisputed  martyrs.  "  Quod  alicujus  mar- 
tyrura  causa  justior  fuit  aut  apertior  ego  nec 
audivf,  nec  legi."  So  completely  were  clerical 
immunities  part  and  parcel  of  Christianity. 

23  The  enemies  of  Becket  assigned  base  rea- 
sf  Qs  for  his  opposition  to  the  King.  "  Ecclesi- 
asticam  etiam  libertatem,  quam  defensatis,  non 
ad  animarum  lucrum  sed  ad  augmentum  pecu- 
niarum,  episcopos  vestros  intorquere."  See  the 
charges  urged  by  John  of  Oxford. — Giles,  iv. 
p.  188. 

21 


242 


Thomas  d  BecJcet. 


sion  to  the  miseries  of  the  people  in  being 
deprived  of  the  services  of  the  exiled 
bishops  and  clergy  "  there  is  no  one 
to  ordain  clergy,  to  consecrate  virgins 
the  confiscated  property  is  said  to  be  a 
robbery  of  the  poor :  yet  in  general  the 
sole  object  in  dispute  was  the  absolute 
immunity  of  the  clergy  from  civil  juris- 
diction,25  the  right  of  appeal  from  the 

24  Especially  in  Epist.  19.    "  Interim." 

25  It  is  not  just  to  judge  the  clergy  by  the 
crimes  of  individual  men,  but  there  is  one  case, 
mentioned  by  no  less  an  authority  than  John 
of  Salisbury,  too  flagrant  to  pass  over :  it  was 
in  Becket's  own  cathedral  city.  Immediately 
after  Becket's  death  the  Bishops  of  Exeter  and 
Worcester  were  commissioned  by  Pope  Alex- 
ander to  visit  St.  Augustine's,  Canterbury. 
They  report  the  total  dilapidation  of  the  build- 
ings and  estates.  The  prior  elect  "  Jugi,  quod 
hereticus  damnat,  fluit  libidine,  et  hinnit  in 
foeminas,  adeo  impudens  ut  libidinem,  nisi  quam 
publicaverit,  voluptuosam  esse  non  reputat." 
He  debauched  mothers  and  daughters :  "  Forni- 
cationis  abusum  comparat  necessitati."    In  one 


Thomas  d  BecJcet.  243 

temporal  sovereign  to  Rome,  and  the 
asserted  superiority  of  the  spiritual 
rulers  in  every  respect  over  the  tempo- 
ral power.  There  might,  indeed,  be 
latent  advantages  to  mankind,  social, 
moral,  and  religious,  in  this  secluded 
sanctity  of  one  class  of  men ;  it*  might 
be  well  that  there  should  be  a  barrier 
against  the  fierce  and  ruffian  violence 
of  kings  and  barons;  that  somewhere 
freedom  should  find  a  voice,  and  some 
protest  be  made  against  the  despotism 
of  arms,  especially  in  a  newly-conquered 
country  like  England,  where  the  kingly 
and  aristocratic  power  was  still  foreign : 
above  all,  that  there  should  be  a  caste, 
not  an  hereditary  one,  into  which  ability 
might  force  its  way  up,  from  the  most 
low-born,  even  from  the  servile  rank ; 
but  the  liberties  of  the  Church,  as  they 
were  called,  were  but  the  establishment 

village  he  had  seventeen  bastards. — Epist. 
310. 


24A      Thomas  a  BeeJc&t. 

of  one  tyranny — a  milder,  perhaps,  but 
not  less  rapacious  tyranny — instead  of 
another;  a  tyranny  which  aspired  to 
uncontrolled,  irresponsible  rule,  nor 
was  above  the  inevitable  evil  produced 
on  rulers  as  well  as  on  subjects,  from 
the  consciousness  of  arbitrary  and  auto- 
cratic power. 

Eefiective  posterity  may  perhaps  con- 
verdict  of  sider  as  not  the  least  remarkable 

posterity.  ^^^^^  ^|^jg    |^^^^,  ^^.^^^j^ 

strife  that  it  was  but  a  strife  for  power. 
Henry  II.  was  a  sovereign  who,  with 
many  noble  and  kingly  qualities,  lived, 
more  than  even  most  monarchs  of  his 
age,  in  direct  violation  of  every  Chris- 
tian precept  of  justice,  humanity,  con- 
jugal fidelity.  He  was  lustful,  cruel, 
treacherous,  arbitrary.  But  throughout 
this  contest  there  is  no  remonstrance 
whatever  from  Primate  or  Pope  against 
his  disobedience  to  the  laws  of  God, 
only  to  those  of  the  Church.  Becket 


Thomas  d  BecTcet. 


245 


mig?tt^  indeed,  if  lie  had  retained  his 
full  and  acknowledged  religions  power, 
have  rebuked  the  vices,  protected  the 
subjects,  interceded  for  the  victims  of 
the  King's  unbridled  passions.  It  must  i 
be  acknowledged  by  all  that  he  did  not  i 
take  the  wisest  course  to  secure  this 
which  might  have  been  beneficent  influ- 
ence.   But  as  to*  what  appears,  if  the 
Kino^  would  have  consented  to  allow 
the  churchmen  to  despise  all  law — if  | 
he  had  not  insisted  on  hanging  priests  | 
guilty  of  homicide  as  freely  as  laymen  [ 
— ^he  might  have  gone  on  unreproved 
in  his  career  of  ambition ;  he  might  un- 
rebuked  have  seduced  or  ravished  the 
wives  and  daughters  of  his  nobles  ;  ex- 
torted, without  remonstrance  of  the 
Clergy  any  revenue  from  his  subjects, 
if  he  had  kept  his  hands  from  the 
treasures  of  the  Church.    Henry's  real 
tyranny  was  not  (would  it  in  any  case 
have  been?)  the  object  of  the  church- 

21* 


246 


Thomas  d  BecTcet. 


man's  censure,  oppngnancj,  or  resist- 
ance. The  cruel  and  ambitious  and 
rapacious  King  would  doubtless  have 
lived  unexcommunicated  and  died  with 
plenary  absolution. 


I 


f 


